With his unique perspective on the female form, the world-renowned sculptor-ceramicist has lived and created for many years on Prague's Kampa. Saying nothing is alien to him, he creates his figurines of women with his own humorous, even caricature-like style, which, given that no other artist at home or abroad engages in anything similar, has opened doors far abroad. Jiří Pošva has exhibited, for example, in France, Switzerland, and Hungary, as well as in London and Philadelphia.

At present, he was scheduled to have a major exhibition in Beirut, which, however, was cancelled due to the American-Israeli war following the invasion of Iraq. It is uncertain how long the presentation of Pošva's work will be postponed. Meanwhile, the Lebanese gallery owner has imported Pošva's small sculptures into his gallery for local art lovers from Christian backgrounds, who do not follow Sharia law and do not condemn the female form, only importing them. Perhaps to avoid regret, the Prague Gallery Jaskmanický is currently preparing an exhibition of Pošva's works with a lecture and guided tour.

Get to know him, please

Jiří Pošva was born in 1948 in Kraslice. He studied at the legendary ceramic school in Bechyně, then at UNS Kutná Hora. His true school of life and art was completed between 1970 and 1974 during private practice in Klec, in the workshop of the renowned master Vacka. He later worked at the state enterprise Keramo in Kostelec nad Černými lesy and, from 1974 to 1989, at ČFVÚ Praha - DÍLO. Since 1989, he has operated as an independent ceramicist in his studio Kampa Praha. To date, he has completed two study trips: in 1990 to Brittany, France, and three years later to the USA, Nevada, at the studio of Dennis Parks.

Besides figures of various sizes in various poses and positions, Jiří Pošva also works with groups of figures, hanging signs, or house signs, and similar reliefs. He is a great expert on history and a lover of antiquity and Greek philosophers. He enjoys adventure literature. For years, as a collector, he has studied the production of interwar publishers; his research culminated in the unique Lexikon of Adventure Literature. This unique work consists of nine (!) volumes. The final volume is titled Publishers, Illustrators, and Authors and is undoubtedly an excellent guide for both collectors and literary historians.

Pošva's Triumph

When Jiří Pošva first visited the baroque hospice in Kuks some time ago, he was strongly impressed by a series of Braun sculptures, including their placement. It is no wonder, for at that time Matyáš Bernard Braun was ranked among the European sculpting elite. He began returning to the site repeatedly with a sketchbook in hand. He studied Braun's works in detail, amazed by their execution—the flowing drapery and other symbolic attributes representing the peak of the baroque period kept him awake, so to speak. Then, in 2018, he decided to create allegories of Virtues and Vices based on a series of sculptures that Braun made for Count Špork as a supplement to the baroque hospice in Kuks. This was truly an extraordinary task, especially since Jiří Pošva decided to make the sculptures his own, so to speak, in the Pošva style.

As is well known, the collection at Kuks features 24 figures – twelve vices and twelve virtues. Each figure is characterized by something distinctive, a solution achieved by Bran through the use of symbolic objects. In Pošva's interpretation, the sculptures feature flowing drapery, and some symbols are either modified or replaced with others. In one case, he even had to rely on his own imagination, as the figure of Deceit did not survive and was replaced by a work by Bernard Seeling from the nineteenth century, which did not appeal to Jiří Pošva, let alone inspire him. He therefore created a completely new figure of a woman playing cards, who has a scratch on her face – a symbol of dishonesty – holding cards in one hand and concealing a false trump in the other. A cat sits on her shoulder as a symbol of cunning, whispering to her what cards her partners are holding.

The entire Pošva collection, after nearly ten years of work, can be seen at Vyšetice Castle, located on the border of the Tábor and Benešov districts, between the municipalities of Neustupov and Kamberk. Even there, one can observe various reactions from visitors, as Pošva's interpretation provokes controversy, much like Braun did in his time between conservative Jesuits and the timeless-thinking Count Špork.

Summer Prague Exhibition

One can also discuss this with Jiří Pošva at a talk during his upcoming author's evening at the vernissage of the exhibition at Gallery Jaskmanický. It remains to be added that the commercial catalog of this exceptional artist's works comprises thirty chamber sculptures, including groups. The master, however, gladly works on individual commissions and customer requests, such as when he recently created a unique decoration of ceramic reliefs and tiles with religious themes for a restored chapel in private ownership. From time to time, he casts his works in bronze, but, in his own words, he prefers it when the material smells of clay.

Ivan Černý

Captions:

The workshop at Kampa U Lužického semináře 18 is dominated by a shelf replacing a small gallery of Pošva's works.

Matyáš Bernard Braun versus Jiří Pošva – sculptures Anger and Sloth

Near the master's workshop is a unique sales gallery of ceramics with a permanent offering of his chamber sculptures.