Jitka Hanzlová
Water That Dreams
April 13 — May 26, 2023
Czech artist Jitka Hanzlová uses photography to address the ways in which one’s homeland and surrounding environment shape identity. Having experienced the trauma of fleeing her native home of Czechoslovakia in 1982, Hanzlová has created an oeuvre that engages with notions of belonging and alienation, utilizing surprisingly varied subject matter.
In the series, Forest (2000-2005), Hanzlová photographed the forest near her childhood village, transforming the empty, wooded landscape into a symbol of memory and loss. Her strong sense of history is an important element of her work, as seen in the later series There is something I don’t know (2011). Here, the artist explores Renaissance portraiture, using men and women of all ages, dressed in contemporary clothes, and presented in an archetypal pose against a simple background. Portrayed in this way, the portraits have a timeless quality that imbues much of Hanzlová’s work. In an equally historicizing gesture, for the more recent series, Horse (2007-2014), the artist reflects on the ancient relationship between man and horse. As with Forest, Hanzlová approaches the subject through close-up photographs of specific details – mouth, ear, and mane – communicating her intense, emotional connection to the animal.
Born in Czechoslovakia in 1958, Jitka Hanzolvá has lived in Germany since 1982. She is the winner of the 2007 BMW Prize at Paris Photo, the 2003 Grand Prix Award, Arles, and was shortlisted for the 1999 and 2002 Citibank Photography Prize. Monographs her work include Bewohner (1996); Rokytnik (1997); FEMALE (2000); Forest (2005); COTTONROSE (2009); HIER (2013); and HORSE (2015), among others.
Hanzlová’s work has been exhibited in numerous major institutions including Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh; National Gallery, Edinburgh; Mapfre Foundation, Madrid; Museum Folkwang, Essen; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Barbican Centre, London; The Photographer’s Gallery, London; and Seattle Art Museum. Her work is held in the permanent collections of several major museums, including San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Museum Folkwang, Essen; and the Fotomuseum Winterthur, among many others.
Jitka Hanzlová: Silences
November 15, 2019 - February 16, 2020
The exhibition is the very first comprehensive presentation of Hanzlová’s work in her native country, covering three decades of her artistic practice and including a new series of photographs, conceived especially for the exhibition in the National Gallery Prague.
“The path that I take is a path back to look into the future”, thus Jitka Hanzlová explains her artistic pursuit and the way she perceives time and history. Born 1958 in Náchod and raised in Rokytnik in Eastern Bohemia (former Czechoslovakia), Hanzlová left her native country in 1982 for Essen, Germany where she studied photography at the visual communication department of the University of Essen. Developed in between two different cultures and political systems, her photographic oeuvre, at once truthful and poetic, reflects the recent historical transformations and elaborates an identity formation of a future emancipated subject in a post-Cold War world.
October 6 – December 2, 2018
Between Continuum: Photographic and cinematographic works since 1990
VISAGES / portraits europeens
A retrospective steeped in the history of European portraiture featuring 24 photographers such as Anton Corbijn, Beat Struli, and Juergen Teller.
Beastly / Tierisch, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland. May 30 through October 4, 2015. Read more.
Faces Then Faces Now, European Portrait Photography since 1990, Nederlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam, Holland. May 30 through August 23, 2015. Read more.
Jitka Hanzlova and Olivo Barbieri are included in 2004–2014: The Museum of Contemporary Photography's ten years: works and projects, which celebrates the tenth anniversary of the museum, part of the Triennale di Milano. On view from July 3 - September 10, 2014.
Jitka Hanzlova will give a lecture at International Center of Photography (ICP) on Wednesday, October 24, 2012. Hanzlova's first full gallery exhibition at Yancey Richardson will open the following day, Thursday, October 25, 6-8pm. The exhibition, There is something I don't know, will feature a series of new works by the artist inspired by Renaissance portraiture.
Jitka Hanzlova's traveling museum retrospective will be on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery from October 17, 2012 – February 3, 2013. Organized by Fundacion MAPFRE in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland, the exhibition includes over 100 works from the last twenty years of Hanzlova's practice.
A major retrospective of over 150 photographic works by Jitka Hanzlová will be on display at the Fundación Mapfre in Madrid, Spain from May 31 – September 2, 2012. The solo exhibition will feature work from several of Hanzlová's photographic projects, including Rokytnik and Forest, taken in the Czech village and surrounding forest where the artist grew up; Cotton Rose, taken in Gifu, Japan; as well as the artist's three most recent series, Horses, Flowers and There Is Something I Don't Know.
Jitka Hanzlova, currently making her debut exhibition at the gallery, is featured in the exhibition Photography Calling! at the Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany, on display through January 15. Works by Hanzlova are included alongside Diane Arbus, William Eggleston, Robert Adams and Thomas Struth, among others.
We are delighted to announce that internationally acclaimed photographer Jitka Hanzlova has joined the gallery. Czech-born and based in Germany, Hanzlova has exhibited widely in Europe. She has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Fotomuseum Winterthur, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and the Museum Folkwang, Essen and nominated for the Citibank Photography Prize in 2000 and 2003. In 2007, she won the BMW Paris Photo prize for contemporary photography. In 2012 the gallery will present Hanzlova's first exhibition in the United States since 2000.
