Lot 61: MIROSLAV HAK (1911-1978)

Untitled (Telephone wires) Gelatin silver print. Circa 1945/Printed later. Signed in pencil on the recto; credit in an unknown hand in pencil on the verso. 153/4 x 113/4in. (40 x 30cm.) PROVENANCE With Antiquariaat J.A. Vloemans, The Hague, Netherlands; to the present owner, 1985. LITERATURE See: Teige, Das moderne Lichtbild in der Cechoslovakei, cover. NOTES Beginning in the early 1930s in Prague, Miroslav Hak became involved in the Czech avant-garde movement, joining the Surrealist Group in Prague and exhibiting in its first exhibition along with the painters Frantisek Gross, Frantisek Hudecek and the sculptor Ladislav Zivr, with whom he would later form the important Skupina 42 (Group 42) in 1940. Hak also participated in the exhibitions held at E.F. Burian's theater, another important venue for the avant-garde in Prague. The work offered here appeared as a positive image on the cover of Karel Teige's 1947 book Das moderne Lichtbild in der Cechoslavakei.