FRANTA / First Steps
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Auction winner
2010 Combined technique (original lithograph, watercolor, ink), on paper 52.5 x 70.5 cm, mounted and framed, author’s signature in the lower right corner The next submitted work, entitled “First Steps” (2010) is a charming motif-based work by František Mertl (*1930), a world-renowned artist who has been living in southern France since 1958 and uses the pseudonym FRANTA. Part of the New Figuration art movement, Mertl is good friends with Theodor Pištěk and Jan Koblasa. This magnificent, expressive work, showcasing the painter’s original technique combining a lithographic base with the author’s watercolor and ink drawings, reflects the author’s fascination with figures. For Franta, figures symbolize the elegance of movement. In this piece, the artist has evocatively portrayed a human being’s earliest movements, which evolve over the course of a lifetime. Assessed by PhDr. Rea Michalová, Ph.D., expert on 20th and 21st century art František Mertl’s works can be seen in dozens of museums and galleries around the world, as well as in local exhibits in Prague, Brno, and Jihlava. The artist’s hometown, Třebíč, offers a permanent exhibit entitled FRANTA in the National House of this lovely town in Vysočina. In collaboration with the National Gallery, Mertl is now preparing a large-scale retrospective exhibit that will be on view in Prague Castle’s Riding School from February 13th to June 15th, 2025. His second passion is cycling, which is the link between Franta and the charity auction held during the 10th annual Svoboda & Williams Cup. This summer, our colleague Jaroslav Waldhauser cycled from Bohemia to Vence to meet with the painter and purchase one of his artworks. One visit turned into two, and the original piece he came to acquire was joined by two other prints—First Steps and Chevalier—that the acclaimed artists donated to a charity auction to benefit disadvantaged children.
Who will we help in the auction?
Nadace Terezy Maxové dětem
The purpose of the Tereza Maxová Foundation is to provide comprehensive support and assistance to vulnerable and abandoned children, to give them a chance to grow up in a healthy and safe family environment. Because all children deserve love, attention and a place to call home. To help combat the growing number of children without homes, the Tereza Maxová Foundation focuses on the following three pillars of support: 1. We help to keep the child in a safe family environment Through supporting families in crisis, namely those at risk of having their children placed in institutional care, we are able to help reduce the number of children facing institutionalization. We mainly provide these families with fieldwork support, professional counselling, and therapy. 2. We promote and support foster parenting We help to raise awareness about all options of substitute family care, to encourage more opportunities for children in need. We work also to support foster and adoptive families, especially through non-profit organizations. 3. We compensate for shortcomings of institutional care upbringing For children growing up in children’s centres (formerly known as infant care centres) and other institutional care facilities outside of the family environment, we provide additional support services including education, therapy, and recreational activities. Through this, we seek to improve their experience in institutional care, and help them to build skills for the future.
Organization profileBidding history
(4)Auction winner
Jaroslav, před 18 dny22 000 Kč
2010 Combined technique (original lithograph, watercolor, ink), on paper 52.5 x 70.5 cm, mounted and framed, author’s signature in the lower right corner The next submitted work, entitled “First Steps” (2010) is a charming motif-based work by František Mertl (*1930), a world-renowned artist who has been living in southern France since 1958 and uses the pseudonym FRANTA. Part of the New Figuration art movement, Mertl is good friends with Theodor Pištěk and Jan Koblasa. This magnificent, expressive work, showcasing the painter’s original technique combining a lithographic base with the author’s watercolor and ink drawings, reflects the author’s fascination with figures. For Franta, figures symbolize the elegance of movement. In this piece, the artist has evocatively portrayed a human being’s earliest movements, which evolve over the course of a lifetime. Assessed by PhDr. Rea Michalová, Ph.D., expert on 20th and 21st century art František Mertl’s works can be seen in dozens of museums and galleries around the world, as well as in local exhibits in Prague, Brno, and Jihlava. The artist’s hometown, Třebíč, offers a permanent exhibit entitled FRANTA in the National House of this lovely town in Vysočina. In collaboration with the National Gallery, Mertl is now preparing a large-scale retrospective exhibit that will be on view in Prague Castle’s Riding School from February 13th to June 15th, 2025. His second passion is cycling, which is the link between Franta and the charity auction held during the 10th annual Svoboda & Williams Cup. This summer, our colleague Jaroslav Waldhauser cycled from Bohemia to Vence to meet with the painter and purchase one of his artworks. One visit turned into two, and the original piece he came to acquire was joined by two other prints—First Steps and Chevalier—that the acclaimed artists donated to a charity auction to benefit disadvantaged children.
Who will we help in the auction?
Nadace Terezy Maxové dětem
The purpose of the Tereza Maxová Foundation is to provide comprehensive support and assistance to vulnerable and abandoned children, to give them a chance to grow up in a healthy and safe family environment. Because all children deserve love, attention and a place to call home. To help combat the growing number of children without homes, the Tereza Maxová Foundation focuses on the following three pillars of support: 1. We help to keep the child in a safe family environment Through supporting families in crisis, namely those at risk of having their children placed in institutional care, we are able to help reduce the number of children facing institutionalization. We mainly provide these families with fieldwork support, professional counselling, and therapy. 2. We promote and support foster parenting We help to raise awareness about all options of substitute family care, to encourage more opportunities for children in need. We work also to support foster and adoptive families, especially through non-profit organizations. 3. We compensate for shortcomings of institutional care upbringing For children growing up in children’s centres (formerly known as infant care centres) and other institutional care facilities outside of the family environment, we provide additional support services including education, therapy, and recreational activities. Through this, we seek to improve their experience in institutional care, and help them to build skills for the future.
Organization profileBidding history
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