The Kiss,
smoky glass, fused, polished, etched, sign. Libenský - Brychtová, 15 x 15 x 8 cm

Authenticity confirmed by Ing. Jaroslav Zahradník, son of Jaroslava Brychtová.

Literature: Klasová M., Libenský Brychtová, Gallery, Prague, 2002, published version on p. 41

Stanislav Libenský (1921 – 2002) – the most important Czech glass artist and teacher of the 2nd half of the 20th century. After studying at the glassmaking schools in Nový Bor and Železný Brod, he graduated from the VŠUP in Prague. In 1945, he returned to the Professional Glassmaking School in Nový Brod, where he led the department of glass drawing and etching. In 1954, Libenský began working as the director of the Glassmaking Secondary Decorative Arts School in Železný Brod. Here, he continued the work of Jaroslav Brychta, who was the first Czech to use the forgotten technique of fusing glass in a mould for artistic usage. His daughter, Jaroslava Brychtová, learned this technique from him.

Jaroslava Brychtová (1924) graduated from the studio of prof. Štipl at the VŠUP in Prague and later also from the sculpture studio of prof. Lauda at Prague’s AVU. She met director Stanislav Libenský in the glassmaking school in Železný Brod, with whom she realized one of his drawings using the technique of fused glass. This was the beginning of Stanislav Libenský’s collaboration with Jaroslava Brychtová, leading to the creation of the famous Head-Bowl /1955/. They achieved a truly revolutionary transparency of glass when shaping the sculpture in their next work - Tall Heads. /1957/. Here, light enters through a soft wall into the space of the sculpture, which is shaped as a negative relief. The uneven strength of the glass influences the intensity of the light passing through and thus the richness of the coloring of the glass as well. The viewer then sees the hidden relief within the work in its full beauty. He used the same principle in The Kiss /1958/, which became an iconic piece in their work. Here, inside the block of glass in a negative relief, there are two heads joined together in a kiss. This work was so popular that the pair of authors made many copies of the sculpture and gave them as gifts to their closest friends. The casting on offer is from the 1980s.

The artistic duo of Jaroslava Brychtová and Stanislav Libenský lived and worked in mutual symbiosis for fifty years. Their collaboration produced works that significantly contributed to the forming of modern glass esthetics. Their works can be found in the collections of the most important art galleries and museums in the world. Their work has an irreplaceable position in the history of art in the 20th century.