Mikuláš Medek *

(Prague 1926–1974)
Mr. Enterprise, 1968, signed Medek; dated and titled on the reverse Pan Enterprise 1968, inscribed on the stretcher Hamburk, oil, enamel on canvas, 162 x 120 cm, framed

We thank Adéla Procházková for her kind assistance with cataloguing of this lot. The work will be listed in the upcoming Catalogue Raisonné of Mikuláš Medek issued by the Medek Family.

Provenance:
Collection Christoph Wilhelmi, South Germany
Thence by descent to the present owner

Exhibited:
Premio Lignano, 34. Biennale Internazionale d’Arte Contemporanea, Venice, June 22- October 20, 1968 (label)
Galleria Nazionale D’Arte Moderna, Villa Giulia, Roma, Arte contemporanea in Cecoslovacchia, May 17 - June 15, 1969, cat. no. 52 (label) (with slightly different dimensions)
Galerie Václava Špály, Prague, Projektanti věží, 1969, cat. no. 5
Krajská Galerie v Hradci Králové, Hradec Králové, Mikuláš Medek, 1969, cat. no. 48
Oblastní Galerie Vysočiny v Jihlavě, Krajská Galerie v Hradci Králové, Hradec Králové, Phases, 1969, cat. no. 93 (titled Enterprise)
Galerie am Klosterstern, Hamburg, Mikuláš Medek: Ölbilder und Zeichnungen, Vladimír Preclík: Holzplastiken, 1970
Kunstkreis Leinfelden, Leinfelden, Mikuláš Medek Prag, May 8 – 24, 1970
Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Mikuláš Medek, April 25 - August 18, 2002,
exhib. cat. Prague 2002 with full page col. ill.
National Gallery Prague, Mikuláš Medek - Naked in the thorns, September 11, 2020 - January 31, 2021, exhib. cat. Prague 2020, p. 142/143 with full page col. ill.

Literature:
Premio Lignano, Rassegna Internazionale d’Arte Contemporanea, Firenze 1968, year 10, no. 8. p. 4
Neděle, 1969, year 3, no. 20, October 2, 1969, p. 19
Bohumír Mráz, Mikuláš Medek, Prague 1970, no. 88 with full page col. ill
Mikuláš Medek: Malířské dílo 1942-1974, Brno 1990


On Mikulas Medek, Pan Enterprise:

The year 1968 is widely recognised as a turning point marked by student uprisings and the onset of a broader social transformation in Europe. During this pivotal year, Mikuláš Medek celebrated his 40th birthday and was at the peak of his artistic career. It was at this time that he painted Pan Enterprise (oil/enamel on canvas, 162 x 120 cm), a key work within his oeuvre. Unusual for Medek are the American title and the enigmatic encoding of his visual message.

The choice of a foreign-language title suggests that Medek did not intend his work to align with the official ideology of his homeland, Czechoslovakia, which was firmly entrenched within the Eastern Bloc and ideologically opposed to the United States. His composition is strikingly clear, constructed from tangible elements that, when viewed together, do not immediately disclose an interpretation that aligns with the painting’s title. As a result, the work appears hermetic to the viewer. Yet, in Czechoslovakia, hidden messages were met with disapproval; officially, preferred motifs were those intended to glorify social conditions

Nevertheless, the painting's compelling structure invites the viewer to explore its underlying subject matter. The composition features sharply defined areas of blue and red set against a deep black background, creating a bold visual contrast. At the same time, extremely delicate areas emerge in the central field, created using the technique of décalcomania. Dominating the width of the canvas is a striking structure, vaguely reminiscent of a medieval shrine—if not for the presence of two circular forms resembling portholes. From these emerge sharp, beak-like shapes that radiate outward. However, unlike Red Signals (1968), there is no reference to clockwork mechanisms. The upper boundary of this ‘shrine’ is adorned with a double row of arches, as if alluding to the arcades of Prague.

Above the shrine, a dome-like form encloses eight pendulums or probes orbiting a central point. Instead of traditional numerals on a clock face, there are once again circular elements that terminate in beak-like shapes Next to the dome, in the upper right, appears one of the 'unrolled' paper scrolls, a motif Medek repeatedly incorporated into his tower constructions since 1967. According to Bohumír Mráz (1970), ‘This represents today’s scientific and technological reality, which poses a threat to humanity’. The sheet, open to the right and resembling an architectural blueprint, is struck on the right by a red sphere.

In total, four red spheres, shaded in trompe-l'œil fashion, appear in the painting. Three of them are significantly larger—one enclosed within the left ‘porthole’, two positioned along the lower edge. Their resemblance to explosive material suggests an impending yet untriggered threat. Suspended from the shrine are seven slender, shaded blue beams, arranged in a staggered perspective. Only the central one is elongated and transformed into a clock pendulum, descending to the painting’s lower edge, which is rendered in a slightly lighter tone of shaded blue.

© Christoph Wilhelmi, Stuttgart 2020