Mikuláš Medek (3 November 1926 – 23 August 1974) was a Czech painter. He united the artistic tradition of over three generations and ášthanks to the originality of his expression, depth and spirituality of his extraordinary work, he occupies one of the most prominent places in the Czech art history of the post-war period. Medek's entire work must be perceived in the context of the times, as it directly reflects the oppressive atmosphere of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. He worked freely only for a short period between 1963 and 1969 and had only two exhibitions in Prague during his lifetime.
He was the grandson of the impressionist Antonín Slavíček, the son of the general and writer Rudolf Medek and the brother of Ivan Medek. Medek's studio was one of the meeting centres for artists and art historians during the communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
Life
1926–1960
Mikuláš Medek was the son of Rudolf Medek, a teacher, legionnaire and brigadier general of the Czechoslovak Army, and Eva Medek, née Slavíčková. He was the grandson of the painter Antonín Slavíček. He had a sister Eva (1921-1924), who died tragically as a child, and an older brother Ivan (1925-2010). His grandmother Bohumila Slavíčková was married for the second time to Herbert Masaryk and Mikuláš's aunts were her two daughters - art historian Anna Masaryk and Herberta Masaryk, married to art historian Emanuel Poche. Her daughter Charlotta was married to Petr Kotik, son of the painter Jan Kotík. Mikuláš Medek maintained friendly relations with his uncle, the film director Jiří Slavíček. Rudolf Medek wrote a five-volume chronicle of the Czechoslovak Legions, published legionary short stories, wrote poems for Moderní revue, and was the author of film scripts and the play Plukovník Švec, which was staged by the National Theatre. A debating club of intellectuals and artists of a wide range of political views - from Catholic poets to communists - met in the Medeks' apartment. Rudolf Medek was friends with General Jan Syrový, the architect Strnad, Bishop Antonín Podlaha, the writers Josef Kopta and Viktor Dyk, and the poets Jaroslav Seifert, František Halas, Josef Hora, Josef Palivec, Jaroslav Durych, Jan Zahradníček, Josef Kostohryz, and others. Mikuláš's mother was also literary active.
From 1929 the Medeks lived in a service apartment in the National Monument at Vítkov, where Rudolf Medek was the director. In 1939 the Gestapo took the apartment and the family spent a year in their country house in Čejkovice and then from 1940 lived in an apartment at 49 Janáček Embankment in Prague. Rudolf Medek deliberately asked to be hospitalized at Bulovka hospital to escape arrest, but died of peritonitis in August 1940. In 1943, the Nazis occupied their house in Čejkovice and then the Red Army took it over.
Mikuláš Medek graduated from primary school in Karlín and then attended the Academic grammar school until 1942. At that time he was mainly interested in literature and was going to study biology, but the universities were closed during the war. In the fourth year of grammar school his interest in fine arts prevailed and he transferred to the State Graphic School in Prague. He studied under Prof. K. Müller, where his classmates included Jan Hladík, Vladimír Fuka, Vlastimil Sova and Václav Sivko. In the last year of the war, the whole class was "totally deployed" in the Dorka cooperative, where they knitted bags. In May 1945, as a member of an illegal student group, he took part in the Prague uprising with the defenders of the Old Town Hall and after it was set on fire, he escaped through the sewers. In the summer of 1945 he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in the studio of prof. V. Minář and V. Rada. After the first semester he transferred to the studio of František Muzika at the Academy of Arts and Crafts and in 1947 he moved to the studio of František Tichý. His classmates were Zbyněk Sekal, Stanislav Podhrázský and Josef Lehoučka. Mikuláš and his mother joined the Communist Party in 1945, but after the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état they both left. During the purges organised by the communist students, Mikuláš Medek was expelled from the Academy of Arts and Crafts in 1949.