Jaroslav Panuška (1872-1958)

THE SPIDER

1900 - 1905
Tempera and pastel on paper, 63 × 80 cm. Signed "P" lower left. Framed by the artist. Accompanied by an expert opinion by PhDr. Šárka Leubnerová. The work "The Spider" belongs to the circle of Panuška`s illustrations to fairy tales and legends about fearless villagers and a giant spider lodged in a rock crevice. A group of men with pikes in hand approach the enemy boldly, yet with visible apprehension on their faces. Their crouched stance and levelled weapons clearly recall the typology of figures found in Hanuš Schwaiger`s work. The main motif of the picture, however, is not the action itself but the strong emotions of the protagonists – will and fear. The tension between courage and anxiety is heightened by the mysterious indeterminacy of the threat: the spider remains largely hidden in the darkness, so that the precise measure of danger is completed only by the viewer`s imagination. This motif of hidden evil in the forest landscape of old Czech fairy tales anticipates, by generations, the later and now far more famous literary images of giant spiders barring the way of small heroes. Framed, glazed. This important painting belongs to the early, fairy-tale-inspired phase of Panuška`s work. The Symbolist legacy of Pirner`s school, which opened for the artist a path to a mysterious world full of hidden meanings, here meets the narrative humour of Hanuš Schwaiger as well as the influences of old German and Netherlandish art. Schwaiger`s influence is particularly evident in the humorous, at times almost picturesque register of the work. The exceptional gallery value of the painting is also attested by its inclusion in the prestigious exhibition in Hlinsko in 2022. In the accompanying catalogue it was presented on the opening page and became the central motif of the author PhDr. Šárka Leubnerová`s introductory text. Publ.: Šárka Leubnerová, Jaroslav Panuška / 1872–1958. Od světa pohádek ke slovanskému dálnověku, in: 63. výtvarné Hlinecko (exh. cat.), Hlinsko 2022, p. 9, cat. no. 21, illus. p. 2. Condition: a small historic tear glued on the reverse, artist`s retouching, not later restored.