Eva Švankmajerová

Eva Švankmajerová (1940 - 2005, Czechoslovakia) was a painter, ceramicist, author, puppeteer and poet, whose multi-faceted practice explored female identity in pre- and post-Communist society. Švankmajerová is also known for her novel, Baradla Cave (1981), as well as her frequent artistic collaborations with her husband, the Surrealist artist and filmmaker Jan Švankmajer.

Strongly influenced by popular and folkloric imagery, Švankmajerová’s work was always provocative, erotic and non-conformist. Her breakthrough came in the 1960s with a series of paintings which humorously re-wrote the history of art from a personal quasi-feminist perspective. She subsequently developed her practice to encompass politics, mythology, wordplay, mediumism, and her own role as a wife, mother and lover.

Although she died in 2005, Švankmajerová is regularly included in exhibitions, including Move Little Hands, Move! (2020) at Kunsthalle im Lippsiusbau, Dresden (Germany) and Disegno Interno (Inner Order) (2024) at GASK, Kutná Hora (Czech Republic). A retrospective at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague (Czech Republic) is scheduled for 2025, curated by Anna Pravdová. A monograph - Jsem Malířka (I Am a Painter), edited by Bertrand Schmitt - was published earlier this year by Kavka Books, Prague.

At Frieze Masters 2024, The Gallery of Everything will present selected works from Eva Švankmajerová‘s breakthrough series, Emancipačním Cyklem (Emancipation Cycle) (1967/69), shown together for the first time since their creation.