Anna Zemankova

Anna Zemánková art book / This publication contains over 250 color plates, specialized articles, and unpublished photographs by Anna Zemánková. English-language version, published under the direction of Terezie Zemánková. 300 pages, 10 x 11 inches, hardback / ISBN 9788074372315

New copies with some light bumps to corners

This book is incredible and probably won't be around forever.

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“I am growing flowers that are not grown anywhere else”: the fantastical botanica of an Art Brut genius

The work of Czech painter, draftsman and pastel artist Anna Zemánková (1908–86) defies easy definition and categorization. As a self-taught artist, Zemánková tends to be described as Art Brut, but her Art Brut is of a mysterious and magical strain. Her work gives the viewer the impression of entering a herbarium of fantastical extraterrestrial plants or a unique, imaginary world, always created by the artist using newly discovered and often surprising techniques.

This extraordinary new publication presents a representative selection of Zemánková’s drawings, collages, objects and assemblages, accompanied by texts written by experts and researchers including Roger Cardinal, Eva Kotátková, Terezie Zemánková, Manuel Anceau, Pascale Jeanneret and Bruno Decharme. These are not staid scholarly essays; each contributor tries in their own way to understand the inherent mystery of Zemánková’s art. Readers are invited to join them on a journey through Zemánková’s visionary work.

"Zemánková's pictures pulse and breathe, depicting an inner life that willfully combated oppressive external."--Trinie Dalton Bookforum

"As a self-taught artist, Zemánková tends to be described as art brut, but her art brut is of a mysterious and magical strain."--The Paris Review