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VAVRO ORAVEC - A Painter of Soul
Spanish Synagogue, 18 January - 30 April 2001
Vavro
Oravec was born in the Slovakian town of Tvrdošín in 1915. He studied
medicine in Bratislava (1933-38) and then worked in hospitals in Bardejov
and Nitra. After the establishment of the State of Slovakia (1939)
he helped out in the Jewish Council’s office in Bratislava and taught
Jewish children who had been expelled from school. He never took any
lessons in painting. The only art education he received was a three-month
retraining course in ceramics (run by J. Horová and S. Fischerová)
in Bratislava in 1940, which he attended after being prohibited from
practising medicine. He was arrested in Autumn 1944 and deported to
Auschwitz, from where he was sent to the concentration camps Gross
Rosen and Blechhammer.
After the end of the war Vavro Oravec left for Prague where he studied
stomatology at Charles University. In 1948 he began to work as a dentist
in a health centre in Prague. In his free time he tried his hand at
painting, attending a course of drawing lessons under Jan Bauch. He
later sought out the advice of friends from the May 57 group of painters
(R .Fremund, R. Piesen, J. Kolínská,
J. Balcar, Z. Sekal and others). He first exhibited his work together
with a group of doctor painters in 1955 in the E. F. Burian Theatre.
It was at this time that he began to paint in a more systematic way.
Helped on by a natural talent, he was soon to master the basics of
painting, but never lost his original naiveté, unique sensibility
and distinctness of expression.
Three one-man shows in
1959, 1962 and 1965 came about as a result of his own artistic development
and personal outlook . He painted slowly, patiently, with great focus
and intensity. He never acquired the technical assuredness and skill
of a professional painter, a shortcoming he turned to his advantage.
He was forced to explore and discover everything for himself, to contemplate
with a sense of humility and an awareness of life. His work does not
reveal any marked development or dramatic change; it is as if he keeps
returning to a narrow yet focused range of themes, while using new means
to discover qualities that until now have been hidden. Jaromír Pecirka
said of Vavro Oravec’s work in 1959: “There is something mysterious
in his paintings...as if the remnants or echoes of some ancient culture
were hidden within...the patina of something that is not new, something
that was experienced and cherished not only by the artist but by his
ancestors...”. 
For a long time, his work was almost exclusively centred
around portraits. These are imaginary portraits, based on a deep sense
of affinity. The sorrowful faces of children and young girls reflect
his war-time experiences. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in
August 1968 he emigrated to Bern, Switzerland. In exile new themes emerged
in his paintings recalling the terrifying experience from Auschwitz
and the death marches. He created portraits of his ancestors, relatives
and friends, as well as stylised self-portraits that seem to depict
mental states rather than outward appearances. From the very beginning,
however, his portraits of his kindred spirit Franz Kafka were predominant.
These were later followed by portraits of other authors, such as Marcel
Proust, Robert Walser, Hermann Hesse and Ernst Troller, as well as his
favourite artists Amedeo Modigliani, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee and Karel
Černý. 
His work is created in privacy, in an enclosed space, in
isolation and concentration, as the result of an ever deepening experience
and awareness. His paintings take form slowly, emerging in silence from
oblivion, revealing hidden faces and objects that seemed to be lost.
Colours are layered in a similar way to human experience, memories and
dreams. His paintings radiate an indefinable magic sensibility, evocative
of dreams and a silent immersion into a world either long since past
or existing somewhere on the other side of our consciousness. They focus
on simple things and incorporate childhood memories, moments of despair
and happiness forever fixed. They are a reflection of his soul and his
life. Through his art he seeks a pathway to himself, to forgotten events,
people and objects, to their hidden meanings and significance which
are hopelessly eluding the rest of us in the hustle and bustle of life.
Biographical details:
| 22.6.1915 | Born in Tvrdošín, Slovakia |
| 1933-38 | Studied medicine in Bratislava and worked in hospitals in Bardejov a Nitra |
| 1940 | Attended a ceramics course run by J. Horová and S. Fischerová in Bratislava |
| 1941-42 | Helped out in the Jewish Council’s office in Bratislava and taught Jewish children |
| 1944 | Arrested in Autumn, deported to Auschwitz, Gross Rosen and Blech- hammer concentration camps |
| 1945 | Worked as a doctor in hospitals in Košice and Bratislava |
| 1945-47 | Studied at the Medical Faculty of Charles University in Prague |
| 1948-68 | Dentist in a health centre in Prague |
| 1955 | Began to paint systematically |
| 1963 | Member of May 57 Group |
| 1968 | Emigrated in September to Bern, Switzerland |
| 1969-76 | Worked as a dentist in a health centre in Bern |
| 1976 | Went into retirement, devoting himself to art |
One-man shows:
| 1955, 1956 | Prague, E. F. Burian Theatre |
| 1959 | Prague, Rokoko Theatre Foyer |
| 1961 | Prague, Na zábradlí Theatre Foyer |
| 1962 | Prague, Komorní Theatre Foyer |
| 1965 | Prague, Charles Square Gallery |
| 1966 | Prague, Malá galerie Čs. spisovatele |
| 1967 | Munich, Neue Müncher Galerie |
| 1967 | Paris, La Nouvelle Galerie |
| 1967 | Linz, Galerie am Taubenmarkt |
| 1969 | Bern, Galerie Schindler |
| 1970 | Bern, Zähringer Galerie |
| 1970 | Würzburg, Galerie Radegundis Villinger |
| 1970 | London, Gallery Petit |
| 1971 | Laufen, Galerie Brauereikeller |
| 1972 | Gstaad, Kunstverein |
| 1973 | Bern, Atelier Elisabeth Röthlisberger |
| 1974 | Curych, Galerie Walchenturm |
| 1975 | Würzburg, Galerie Radegundis Villinger |
| 1976 | Schloss Jegensdorf; Naters, Junkerhof |
| 1977 | Münsingen, Galerie Wagerad |
| 1977, 1980 | Bern, Zähringer Galerie |
| 1981 | Burgdorf, Galerie Schlossberg |
| 1984, 1986 | Bern, Zähringer Galerie |
| 1987 | Bern, Galerie Papillon |
| 1992, 1995, 1996 | Bern, Zähringer Galerie |
| 1999 | Prague, Franz Kafka Gallery |
| 1999 | Bern, Kälim & S.Ramsayer Galerie |
Exhibition curator:PhDr. Arno
Parik
Installation: Pavel Brach
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