Hommage à Matthias Grünnewald

Kulhánek evokes Grünewald’s renowned Isenheim Altarpiece in his print 'Hommage à Matthias Grünewald.' The lithograph specifically references Matthias Grünewald’s (German, c. 1475/1480 – 1528) iconic rendering of Saint Sebastian’s martyrdom (located on the left panel of the closed altarpiece) and the Crucifixion, which are among the scenes featured on the outside panels of the polyptych altarpiece. The main figure of Kulhanek’s print, Saint Sebastian – signified by his iconographic arrow wounds – closely resembles that of Grünewald’s. Furthermore, Grünewald’s influence appears with the inclusion of a hand nailed to the cross, signifying Christ’s stigmata (marks that correspond to those left on Jesus’ body by the Crucifixion). Kulhánek created this piece shortly after the Czechoslovakian communist regime fell in 1989. Thus, the referential imagery of suffering and sacrifice in this piece may symbolize the suffering undergone by the Czechoslovakian people to finally reach salvation in the form of freedom of expression. [Emily Le, wall text in "Suppression, Subversion, and the Surreal: The Art of Czechoslovakian Resistance," USC Fisher Museum of Art, March 9 - May 10, 2019.]

Edition 10/90