Bohumil Zemánek

He was born in Brno as the second son of three children of Bohumír Zemánek, a professional soldier, and his wife Anna Zemánková, who later became famous as an important Czech author of art brut.

Together with the sculptor Michael Bílek, he devoted himself intensively to the restoration of stone sculptural monuments, mainly in North Bohemia.

From the beginning, he has focused on realistic figurative sculpture, mostly life-size and processed in a cast, but mainly in burnt umber, raw or glazed ceramic clay.

His work is characterized by almost animalistic modelling, antiqued print drapery and frequently admitted joints of plaster forms.

Zemánek's early work from the time of his studies had an expressive charge and the sculptor did not hesitate to treat a seemingly drab subject as an unkind grotesque (Kočárek, 1964).

With humorous detachment, he pilloried petty bourgeois stereotypes (Before the Maid Katy Brings Fish Soup to the Table... 1968) and gluttony (Woman Julie - Dawn 1988–1989, Chess 1986–1987), trivialising the ideal of the working man (Bohouš 1978–79).