Works on paper

Jindřich Zeithamml (1949) is a Czech sculptor and visual artist whose work is rooted in strict discipline, reduction, and a deep interest in universal order. He is best known for his monumental sculptures, but his works on paper form an essential parallel to his three-dimensional practice. Through elementary geometric forms and carefully balanced compositions, Zeithamml explores the tension between material presence and metaphysical meaning. His art is marked by restraint, precision, and a timeless clarity that transcends specific narratives and invites contemplative viewing.

Jindřich Zeithamml – works on paper

Jindřich Zeithamml is generally perceived primarily as a sculptor. And rightly so. His work stems from extraordinary inner discipline and concentration, from the need to go straight to the essence of things – to the elementary structures of the world, which are governed by the immutable order of the universe. It is here, at the intersection of mathematics, geometry, and metaphysics, that his characteristic artistic language emerges.

What we find in his monumental sculptures has its direct counterpart in his works on paper. Drawings, prints, etchings, drypoint engravings, and the rarer but all the more striking woodcuts are not mere supplements to his sculptural work. They are its parallel world – differing in material, but not in idea.

On these sheets, we encounter basic symbols: the cross, the circle, the square, the spiral, the wave, the crescent moon. They appear simple, even ascetic. There is nothing superfluous here. However, their apparent randomness is deceptive – each shape has a precise place, a clear composition, a firm anchorage. As in nature, a hidden order reigns here.

Zeithamml’s works on paper are an attempt to make visible the invisible forces that constantly clash, intertwine, and keep existence itself going. The tension between them is sometimes expressed by dynamic hatching or wavy lines, while at other times it is hidden in shapes that appear completely calm and static. Yet something radiates from them – a quiet but urgent tension deep within the very structure of being.

These works have no titles. They do not lead the viewer by the hand, nor do they provide instructions or explanations. And this is intentional. Zeithamml relies on perception and concentration. After all, even music does not need words to have an effect.

Although most of the prints are based on black-and-white austerity, there are also sheets in which color plays an important role. Red, blue, green, and purple circles, rings, and areas enter the composition very sparingly, with almost ascetic restraint. Each shade is chosen with the utmost seriousness, as if weighed on the most sensitive apothecary scales. Color here is not decoration—it carries another, more subtle layer of meaning.

It is precisely in these color relationships that a quiet, nonverbal lyricism emerges. It seems restless, mysterious, touching on something that cannot be put into words – an area where art meets the sacred. The mystery here is not explained, but preserved. As Johannes Robert Becher aptly wrote, art is about “eloquent silence” and lightly touching on the mystery so that it can be heard and then fall silent again.

PhDr. Gustav Erhart