Anna Macková (1887-1969)

DOMINICAN MONASTERY IN KORČULA

Colour woodcut on hand-made paper, 21x26 cm (52x43 cm), recto in pencil lower right below the print area the author`s signature "A. Macková", recto in pencil the title of the work "Dominikánský monastýr v Korčule". This print represents one of the most decorative facets of Macková`s work. The pictorial composition rests on the contrast between the massive, rhythmically articulated foreground and the calm architectural motif in the background. Tree trunks create an almost ornamental network of lines that frames the view of Dalmatian architecture and the church tower, which becomes the vertical accent of the entire composition. The artist here combines observation of a specific landscape with a pronounced stylisation, close to European decorative graphics of the first third of the 20th century. Dense hatching, local colour, and emphasis on the flat effect recall the contemporary endeavour for a synthesis of nature and ornament, as known, for example, from the works of Jan Konůpek or from the late Symbolist and Art Nouveau tradition. Macková, however, balances this decorativeness with a sense of space and light, so that the image does not appear as ornament but as an intimate, inwardly focused vision of the Mediterranean landscape.