HOMESICK ANDERSWO: Pravoslav Sovak

Description

He was one of the most important contemporary printmakers with worldwide influence: Pravoslav Sovak. Born in 1926 in Vysoké Mýto in East Bohemia, the artist lived from 1978 until his death in 2022 in Hergiswil. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, the Nidwaldner Museum is dedicating a comprehensive exhibition to him. The focus is on works that reflect his lifelong homesickness. A homesickness that originated from the invasion of the Soviet army on August 21, 1968, in Prague, which the 42-year-old "left" on the same day – in his own words.

Switzerland granted him asylum in 1969, and in 1978 he built a house with a studio in Hergiswil. From here, Sovak repeatedly set out into the world, often to America. Fascinated by the nameless expanses of the Arizona deserts, city views, or vertical building structures of New York skyscrapers, timeless works were created about (deserted) places of refuge, imaginary spaces and places, mixed with memories of Bohemia, past travels, and life in the Hergiswil house, garden, and surroundings.

Sovak never spoke loudly about homesickness or the loss of homeland. It is his sensual, technically brilliant oeuvre that often reflects a deep longing for identity or location and lets us experience that home is always changeable and shapeable. In a single picture, which took over eight years to create, he expresses it in the title: Homesick. An unmistakable yearning for a place that gives a sense of home is evident – a place that hovers promisingly close above the horizon yet seems to lie in unreachable distance.

The art exhibition will be opened on Friday, June 26, 2026, at 6:30 p.m.

Curation: Martina Kral

Highlights

• Exhibition for the 100th birthday of Pravoslav Sovak
• Works on homesickness, homeland, and loss
• Focus on his print graphics and reflections on identity

General Information

The Nidwaldner Museum presents a comprehensive exhibition on the life and work of the Czech-Swiss artist Pravoslav Sovak. The exhibition is dedicated to his reflective homesickness and his search for home, based on his own experiences and artistic works. The event takes place at the Winkelriedhaus in Stans.

Location

Engelbergstrasse 54a, 6370 Stans, Schweiz

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