MIROSLAV TICHÝ

Miroslav Tichý (Kyjov, 1926-2011) withdrew to a life in isolation in his hometown of Kyjov, Moravia, Czech Republic after studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague from 1945-1948. In the late 1950s he quitted painting and became a distinctive Diogenes-like figure. From the end of the 1960s he began to take photographs mainly of local women, in part with cameras he made by hand. He later mounted them on hand-made frames, added finishing touches with pencil, and thus moved them from photography in the direction of drawing. The result are works of strikingly unusual formal qualities, which disregard the rules of conventional photography. They constitute a large oeuvre of poetic, dreamlike views of feminine beauty in a small town under the Czechoslovak Communist régime.

​

The Biennial La Alegria de mis Sueños was one of the last major Szeemann exhibitions and the first appearance of Miroslav Tichý’s work on the international art stage. The Sevilla Biennial was followed by retrospectives at the Kunsthaus Zürich, curated by Tobia Bezzola (15.07.–18.09.2005), at the Museum für Moderne Kunst MMK in Frankfurt (08.03.–03.08. 2008), at the 16th Biennale of Sydney: Revolutions–Forms That Turn, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (18.06.–07.09.2008), at the Centre Pompidou in Paris (25.06.–22.09.2008), and at the International Centre of Photography in New York, curated by Brian Wallis (29.01.–09.05.2010). In 2005 Tichý even received the “Prix Découverte” of the renowned photography festival Les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles.

​

The Tichý Ocean Foundation was established in 2005 by Roman Buxbaum with the aim of collecting, preserving and presenting the artwork of the internationally renowned artist Miroslav Tichý (1925- 2011). In addition to the unique collection of photographs, drawings, paintings, prints and self-made photo cameras of the artist Tichý, the Foundation is also home to a constantly growing collection named "Artists for Tichý - Tichý for Artists" in Miroslav Tichý's with currently over 150 international contemporary artists. This collection counts today works from Lawrence Weiner, Günther Förg, Alex Katz, Fischli/Weiss, Richard Prince, Pamela Rosenkranz among other renowned artists.