Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová

produced in conjunction with the Zelezny Brod Glassworks
represented by GlassExport

“Worldwide Success: Bruxelles ’58, Brussels Reporting,” Czechoslovak Glass Review, January/February 1959, p. 45 (for similar examples in the “Zoomorphic Stones” wall)
“New Possibilities of Glass in Architecture,” Czechoslovak Glass Review, January/February 1960, pp. 8-11 (for related examples created by Libenský and Brychtová for the Cultural House in Poruba and the “Fire and Glass” window for the Exhibition of Czechoslovakian Glass in Moscow, 1959)
"La poésie du verre dans l'architecture,” La Revue du Verre Tchécoslovaque, May 1965, pp. 146-151
“Years of Change in Czechoslavakian Glass 1957-1962,” Neues Glas, January-March 1988, p. 11 (for a related example)
Stanislav Libenský, Jaroslava Brychtová, exh. cat., Nárdoní Galerie, Prague, 1989, p. 80
Susanne K. Frantz, ed., Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová:  A 40-Year Collaboration in Glass, Munich, 1994, pp. 95 and 187 (for similar examples in the “Zoomorphic Stones” wall) 
Milená Klasova, Stanislav Libenský a Jaroslava Brychtová, Prague, 2002, pp. 42-44  (for examples in the “Zoomorphic Stones” wall)
Helmut Ricke, ed., Czech Glass 1945-1980, Stuttgart 2005, p. 242 (for the owl and wolf reliefs in the “Zoomorphic Stones” wall, 1958)

In 1958, Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová created a wall with inset moulded and carved glass elements entitled “Zoomorphic Stones” for the Czechoslovakian pavilion of the World Exposition in Brussels.  This work was one of the early collaborations by the two artists and explored the new techniques and artistic possibilities in glass modeled by casting.  Libenský and Brychtová received the “Grand Prix” at Expo 58 for this work. Similar owl and wolf subject stones were executed in the realized “Zoomorphic Stones” installation in 1958.  With the success of this installation, related stones were utilized in various architectural installations by Libenský and Brychtová in the following few years. 

The lots offered here were acquired by a Canadian collector who represented GlassExport, the organization that offered works by Czechoslovakian glass artists abroad under the Communist regime, from 1948 through the late 1960s.  During this time period, individual artists were not allowed to independently sell their works under the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.  These “Zoomorphic Stones” have remained in the family since the original acquisition from GlassExport in 1961-1963.

Sotheby's would like to thank Dan Klein for his assistance in cataloguing these two lots.