Jindřich Wielgus, Jan Kudláček: Stela - University Museum VSB-TUO

Name: Stela

Author: Jindřich Wielgus, Jan Kudláček

Dating: 1966–1967

Location: in the exterior on the lawn outside the main entrance to the University halls of residence connecting to the VŠB-TUO campus in Poruba

Execution: an abstract, significantly vertical sculpture made from epoxy resin mounted on a concrete base, about 8 m high

FRAGILE VERTICAL

Stela by the sculptors Jindřich Wielgus and Jan Kudláček from 1966–1967 sits in the courtyard area outside the entrance to the main building of the University halls of residence. It forms a vertical accent, a landmark or a signpost between individual blocks of the halls of residence. The surface of Stela is dark, castellated, wrinkled and supplemented with symbolic technical details, which are not at all visible from a distance. Hence, most passers-by perceive the installation only as an erected column. Stela was made of laminate, which is not considered to be a durable material. Therefore, it has suffered from damage since its installation in the second half of the 1960s. The problem was both the stability of the tall column, which vibrated in windy weather and the resistance of relatively fragile material. Additional repairs are clearly visible on the surface of the material.

This abstract Stela differs from Jindřich Wielgus’ typical works, which were mainly sculptures and reliefs with figurative themes. The figurative motives of characteristic volumes portraying the themes of family, youth, and work are also present on the reliefs by the same author in the interior of the main hallway of the halls of residence.

Stela in the area of dormitories, objects still in original color, photo by Roman Polášek

Stela in the context of the current form of dormitory objects, photo by Eva Špačková

Stela against the background of buildings in its original form, 1973, photoarchive AMO, photo by Petr Sikula

Jindřich Wielgus

(1910-1998)

Work: Stéla

Mládí, Lidová píseň, Horníci/Práce, Láska, Rodina

Jindřich Wielgus studied at the Academy of Fine Arts at Karel Dvořák’s sculpture studio (1931–1934) and Otakar Španiel‘s medal specialist course, who also devoted himself to drawing, graphics and illustrations. With his Prague teachers, Wielgus met with the traditions of grandiose idealistic realism with Myslbek, and lyricism with Štursa. He studied both the Antique and Renaissance, the statue harmoniously composed, logically sculpted and firmly modelled. Regarding classical art of sculpture, Jindřich Wielgus also learned the principle of monumentality, which does not lie in scale, but in statue creation. During his study stay in Rome in 1938 he had his own exhibition.

Thanks to a substantial part of his work, Wielgus is regarded as a regional author essentially tied to the Ostrava area, despite the fact that he spent most of his adult life, from his studies to his death, in Prague. However, he repeatedly returned to Ostrava, both thematically and physically. He was a member of the Moravian Association of Fine Artists, cooperated with Moravian artists living in Prague and associated with the Aleš Association. He had repeatedly exhibited in the Art House in Ostrava. And so as in Prague he belonged to a generation of sculptors who gained a place in Czech art history (Karel Hladík, Alois Sopr, Jan Kavan, and Ladislav Zívr), Wielgus continued to cooperate with sculptural peers who never left the region (Antonín Ivanský and Karel Vávra). His encounter with the older Augustin Handzel, with whom he shared authorship of the non-pathetic but monumental sculptural representation of a hard-working man, also seemed to be essential for him. Wielgus‘s statues can be found in Ostrava, Opava, Havířov, Orlová, Karviná, and Frýdek-Místek. Working and politically determined people, such as are the iconic The Miner with The Block (1942–1945), were not the only subject theme of his works. In his portfolio, we also find an oft portrayed female figure, one with sometimes corpulent baroque shapes, and sometimes with a more delicate built and lyrical touch. Similar to other artists who worked and created in the 1950s and 1960s, Wielgus shows some influence by Henry Moore‘s work. He was freely approached in the sculpture of a sitting couple entitled Podvečer (Early Evening) (1963) on Poruba’s district Hlavní třída (Main Avenue), which is one of his best works created for the urban exterior.