Gizela Šabóková - Monument

On the occasion of the significant birthday of glass artist Gisela Šabóková, one of the international stars of contemporary Czech glass art, the museum mounted an exhibition showcasing various aspects of her work, from fused glass sculptures to stained glass, painting and graphics.

The exhibition was tailored to the atypical exhibition space in the museum extension, which was awarded the prestigious title of Building of the Year of the Czech Republic in 2020. “Such a unique space requires unique dramatics. For this reason, we reserve it for exceptional and prestigious projects that are put together in close collaboration between artists and our curators. Gisela Šabóková's exhibition is just such an event,” says director Milada Valečková.     

Gizela Šabóková (*1952), originally from Nové Zámky, Slovakia, completed a glassmaking apprenticeship at the state-owned Czech Crystal Company in Chlum u Třeboně (1967-1969), subsequently graduating from the Secondary Glass School in Železný Brod (1969-1973) and the studio of Prof. Stanislav Libenský at the Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (1973-1979). She then started working as an independent artist. Her works feature in a number of public and private collections at home and abroad. In 2000 she was awarded the main prize of the Koganezaki museum in Japan. She creates fused sculptures by the physically demanding process of cutting or grinding herself or in collaboration with her husband, Karel Bartoníček. She also creates stained glass windows herself. 

According to curator of the exhibition Petr Nový Šabóková, “as early as the 1980s she began to pursue her own path towards glass sculpture. Gradually she defined her artistic style, characterised in the 1990s by disturbing zoomorphic polypods, then by expressive vertical sculptures linked to the theme of the human body”.

Partners:Ministerstvo kultury ČR, Liberecký kraj, statutární město Jablonec nad Nisou, Nadace Preciosa, Crystal Valley, Czechglasscompetence