Jitka Válová – Květa Válová – Ester Krumbachová – Adriena Šimotová – Marie Jančová – Libuše Jarcovjáková – Dagmar Šubrtová
The exhibition If It Wasn’t for… unfolds a network of relationships within the intimacy of the artistic milieu of strong, by now deceased female artists who had amicable ties with their younger counterparts and exercised a significant human influence on them. This network spans female artists of three generations, including the forgotten painter Maria Jančová, the world-famous filmmaker and artist Ester Krumbachová, the painter duo Květa Válová and Jitka Válová, their contemporary Adriena Šimotová, a generation younger photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková and extends as far as their youngest fellow, the sculptor Dagmar Šubrtová.
In the 1940s, while studying at the Brno School of Fine Arts (ŠUŘ), Ester Krumbachová met Maria Jančová, the mother of Libuše Jarcovjáková, and they became colleagues, friends, and confidants on their personal and artistic journeys. After the war, the painter Marie Jančová studied in the studios of Karel Svolinský and Emil Filla at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM) in Prague where she met her future husband and a member of the Trasa 54 group, Vladimír Jarcovják, as well as Jitka Válová and Květa Válová. The time spent together in Čestmír Kafka's studio and in the Válová sisters‘ house gave rise to close personal and inspiring professional relationships.
Ester Krumbachová sent the art historians Jana Ševčíková and Jiří Ševčík to the Válová sisters' studio in the early 1980s and they later exposed the work of these original painters to a wider public in a series of exhibitions. The Válová sisters' house in Kladno was a beautiful example of a seedbed of friendly relations and a venue of important meetings. Towards the end of Jitka Valová's life, the almost two generations younger sculptor Dagmar Šubrtová took on an important role as Jitka‘s personal and artistic companion. After Dagmar settled in industrial Kladno, her meetings with Jitka Válová grew into an intense friendship. Jitka had several soul mates. To her dying day she admired her contemporary Adriena Šimotová for her strength, love, sincerity and artistic excellence. In the moments of parting with this world, she held in her hand an invitation to Adriena Šimotová's last exhibition and also dedicated her last words to her. Ester Krumbachová's generous demeanor and appealing human and artistic personality played a significant role in the life of the then teenage photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková who got inspired and motivated by her outspoken artistic nature. The circle remains open. Through documentary films, writings, photographs and, last but not least, the artworks themselves the exhibition aims to highlight bonds of friendship and spirituality, with an emphasis on their creative impulse transcending the past and giving rise to contemporary relationships and inspirations.
The exhibition presents artworks from private collections and the artists' archives. In addition to the artworks and the until now undisplayed collection of early and recent drawings by Marie Jančová, it also offers two unique videos – Věra Chytilová's documentary In Search of Ester and a compilation of a never before published interview with architect Josef Pleskot from an upcoming time-lapse documentary about the Válová sisters’ home, life and friends by director, screenwriter, winner of several literary awards and musician Martin Ryšavý.
