Difference between revisions of "Milan Grygar"

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Milan Grygar was born in Zvolen, Slovakia in 1926. After graduating from the College of Applied Arts, [[Prague]] (where he studied under Professor Emil Filla) he concentrated on still lifes which evolved into colour compositions devoid of subject matter. In 1964 the artist produced a series of 64 black-and-white drawings on the principle of a linear sequence. Working in a fast rhythm, the artist could "hear" the drawing he was creating. From there, it was only a step to a discovery that was to define his future artistic career and bring him renown. Grygar made a tape of a precise acoustic recording of the drawing's origin. In 1965, the artist started to pursue the relationship between drawing and sound, and in 1966 exhibited his first acoustic drawings with accompanying tape recordings. These New Drawings led him to the direction known as the New Music, and were followed by large drawings and paintings recording hand movements. The next stage concerned mechanic-acoustic drawings in which the artist employed resounding mechanisms as drawing tools. A new comprehensive series entitled Ground-plan Scores started to take shape in 1967. In the series, drawings are composed as projections of "spread" sounds. In 1970, Grygar held a performance called ''Audiovisual Relations'' in the Ales Hall, Prague, in the course of which he executed an acoustic drawing as well as a unique haptic drawing, which the artist entered as a material being producing a drawing with his fingers, without the supervision of sight.
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{{Infobox artist
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|image = Milan-Grygar.jpg
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|imagesize = 250px
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|caption = A portrait from the artist's archive.
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|birth_date = {{birth date|1926|10|24|mf=y}}
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|birth_place = Zvolen, Czechoslovakia
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}}
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[[Image:Milan_Grygar.jpg|thumb|258px|]]
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[[Image:Milan_Grygar_photo_Miroslav_Jodas.jpg|thumb|258px|Photo by Miroslav Jodas]]
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Czechoslovak audiovisual artist, painter, and typographer. Milan Grygar was born in Zvolen, Slovakia in 1926. After graduating from the College of Applied Arts, [[Prague]] (where he studied under Professor Emil Filla) he concentrated on still lifes which evolved into colour compositions devoid of subject matter. In 1964 he produced a series of 64 black-and-white drawings using the principle of a linear sequence. Working in a fast rhythm, he could "hear" the drawing he was creating. From there, it was only a step to a discovery that was to define his future artistic career and bring him recognition. Grygar began tape recording the acoustic process of drawing. In 1965 he started to pursue the relationship between drawing and sound, and in 1966 exhibited his first acoustic drawings with accompanying tape recordings. These New Drawings led him to the direction known as the New Music, and were followed by large drawings and paintings recording hand movements. The next stage concerned mechanic-acoustic drawings in which Grygar employed resounding mechanisms as drawing tools. A new comprehensive series entitled ''Ground-Plan Scores'' [Půdorysné partitury] started to take shape in 1967. In the series, drawings are composed as projections of "spread" sounds.  
  
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Similar performances took place in [[Brno]] (1968; 1973, including Homage to Magic), [[Lodz]] (1974), Prague (1985), and at a festival in [[Ghent]] (1986). The artist renders all his drawings and paintings as scores based on different principles (e.g. colour scores in which he sets a precise list of musicians and sound sources, architectural, 12 horizons etc.). Another spur for a sound interpretation was provided by sound-relief drawings which Grygar explored from 1972. In 1976, this system of a rhythmical square grid gave way to the linear principle in drawings which can be also interpreted acoustically. Large-format drawings referred to as spatial scores are offset by White Images (1980).
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In 1970, Grygar held a performance called ''Audiovisual Relations'' [Audiovizuální vztahy] in the Ales Hall, Prague, in the course of which he executed an acoustic drawing as well as a unique haptic drawing, which he entered as a material being producing a drawing with his fingers, without the supervision of sight. Similar performances took place in [[Brno]] (1968; 1973, including ''Homage to Magic''), at the Museum of Art in [[Łódź]] (at Ryszard Stanisławski's invitation, 1974), Prague (1985), at a festival in [[Ghent]] (1986), and in [[Warsaw]] (2010) [http://www.galeriafoksal.pl/old/kod/grygar/wyst.htm]. The artist renders all his drawings and paintings as scores based on different principles (e.g. colour scores in which he sets a precise list of musicians and sound sources, architectural, 12 horizons etc.). Another spur for a sound interpretation was provided by sound-relief drawings which Grygar explored from 1972. In 1976, this system of a rhythmical square grid gave way to the linear principle in drawings which can be also interpreted acoustically. Large-format drawings referred to as spatial scores are offset by ''White Images'' [Bílé obrazy] (1980).
  
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In 1986 Milan Grygar participated in the Chambres d'Amis international event in Gent. The last phase of his work is associated with Black Images on the principle of black planes and colour lines in which the key part is played by fixed light. Milan Grygar's acoustic drawings were published by Supraphon on two LP's in 1969 and 1976.
+
Grygar His collaboration with a musical theorist [[Vladimír Lébl]] gave a way to an exhibition for the [[International_Seminars_on_New_Music,_Smolenice|festival of experimental music at Smolenice]] in 1970. His ''Architectonic Score'' (1970) was realized by the [[Erhard Karkoschka]]'s group from Stuttgart in 1973 (Theater der Altstadt, Stuttgart) and 1983 (3. Stuttgarter Sommerkurse), other scores by [[Agon Orchestra]], [[Jean-Yves Bosseur]], or [[MoEns]] group from Prague.
 +
 +
In 1986 Milan Grygar participated in the Chambres d'Amis international event in Ghent. The last phase of his work is associated with ''Black Images'' [Černé obrazy] on the principle of black planes and colour lines in which the key part is played by fixed light. Milan Grygar's acoustic drawings were published by Supraphon on two LP's in 1969 and 1976.
  
 +
== Works==
 +
; Acoustic Drawings
 +
<gallery>
 +
File:Grygar_Milan_1965_Acoustic_Drawing.jpg|1965
 +
File:Grygar Milan 1967 Acoustic Drawing Aa.jpg|''Acoustic Drawing Aa'', 1967
 +
File:Grygar_Milan_1967_Acoustic_Drawing.jpg|''Acoustic Drawing Ad'', 1967
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File:Grygar Milan 1967 Acoustic Drawing 5.jpg|1967
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File:Grygar_Milan_1968_Acoustic_Drawing_A18.jpg|''A18''
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File:Grygar_Milan_1986_Acoustic_Drawing.jpg|1986
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</gallery>
  
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Milan Grygar si možná jako jediný uvědomil, že vznik kresby, zvláště netradičními nástroji, je doprovázen celou škálou zvuků. V průběhu práce v rychlém rytmu svou kresbu slyšel. Nahrávkou na magnetofonový pásek pořídil přesný akustický záznam vzniku kresby. Od roku 1965 se začal zabývat vztahem kresby a zvuku. V následujícím roce poprvé vystavil akustické kresby spolu s jejich magnetofonovou nahrávkou. Dalším experimentem byly kresby mechanicko - akustické, v nichž jako kreslících nástrojů užil zvučících mechanismů. Od roku 1967 vznikala nová obsáhlá série pod společným názvem půdorysné partitury, v nichž má kresba kompoziční osnovu jako projekce rozprostřeného zvuku. V roce 1970 Grygar uskutečnil v pražské Alšově síni akci nazvanou „Audiovizuální vztahy“ při níž realizoval akustickou kresbu a provedl také hmatovou kresbu, kterou tvoří prsty bez kontroly zrakem. Od roku 1976 vystřídal tento systém rytmizovaného čtverečkového rastru principem lineárním v kresbách. Poslední fázi jeho tvorby představují Černé obrazy na principu černých ploch a barevných linií, kde dominující úlohu hraje fixované světlo. [http://www.ped.muni.cz/warts/praxe/web_praxe_2008/cd_ped_projekt/DATA/Prezentace/001_Tana_Sedova/DID%20VT.ppt]
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; Tactile Drawing, performance, 1969
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<gallery>
 +
File:Grygar_Milan_1969_Tactile_Drawing_1.jpg|Photo by Josef Prošek
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File:Grygar_Milan_1969_Tactile_Drawing_2.jpg|Photo by Josef Prošek
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File:Grygar_Milan_1969_Tactile_Drawing_3.jpg|Photo by Josef Prošek
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File:Grygar_Milan_1969_Tactile_Drawing_4.jpg|Photo by Josef Prošek
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File:Grygar_Milan_1969_Haptic_Drawing_2.jpg|1969
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File:Grygar_Milan_1969_Haptic_Drawing.jpg|1969
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</gallery>
 +
‎
 +
; Ground-Plan Score
 +
<gallery>
 +
File:Grygar Milan 1968 Ground-Plan Score Formula.jpg|''Ground-Plan Score + Formula''‎, 1968
 +
File:Grygar Milan 1968 Ground-Plan Score with Objects.jpg|''Ground-Plan Score with Objects'', 1968
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File:Grygar Milan 1968 Ground-Plan Score for Five Large and One Small Ariston.jpg|''Ground-Plan Score for Five Large and One Small Ariston'', 1968
 +
File:Grygar Milan 1968 Ground-Plan Score realisation.jpg|''Ground-Plan Score, realisation'', 1968 ‎
 +
</gallery>
  
 +
; Other scores
 +
<gallery>
 +
File:Grygar Milan pre-1970 Calligraphic Score.jpg|''Calligraphic Score'', pre-1970
 +
File:Grygar Milan 1969 80 Optical Records of a Sound of the Screws.jpg|''80 Optical Records of a Sound of the Screws'', 1969
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File:Grygar Milan 1969 Score Sound Layers Project.jpg|''Score - Sound Layers Project'', 1969
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File:Grygar Milan 1970 Architectonic Score.jpg|''Architectonic Score'', 1970
 +
File:Grygar Milan 1970 Architectonic Score 2.jpg|''Architectonic Score'', 1970
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File:Grygar Milan 1971 CBDA Land Score.jpg|''CBDA Land Score'', 1971
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File:Grygar Milan 1972 Blue Score.jpg|''Blue Score'', 1972
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File:Grygar Milan 1972 Finger Score.jpg|''Finger Score'', 1972
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File:Grygar Milan 1981 Linear Score.jpg|''Linear Score'', 1981
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</gallery>
  
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The optic-acoustic drawings of Grygar and his further activity in the sphere of audio-visual works have originated from another background and they are directed to other goals. In Czechoslovakia, the work of this graphic artist is probably the most original conception of the music-visual art at all. The author took part in a number of exhibitions, he presented his acoustic drawings, and his electronic scores were realized by the Karkoschka's group in 1973. Grygar's musical graphic cannot be visualized as music for reading, there are no analogies with notations, no forms of musical instruments, etc. In some figures he presents the art of action (the acoustic drawings with recorded sound have been published by the Supraphon Gramophone Company), in others the conceptual art (collage, groundplan scores, architectonic scores). Certain asimnilarity in the sphere of the creation of form or the origin 'of rhythm should not be considered from the point of view of analogy of objects, but analogy of action; the foundation of all arts pulsates with the common effort: to find the ex- pression for motion, a form for the unity of the motional, optic and sonic, a code for non-differentation and non-specialization of human activity in such a way, as experienced in children's games. This "playful principle", however, is equipped with a mature professionality and has the artistically most interesting goal: creation. Grygar's graphic works are monumental by their simplicity and purposefulness in a peculiar way. Anyone ,of them may be, but should not be, considered from the point of view of itself alone. They form a part of a current, which had appeared in the author's work around 1965 and lasts until now. In this current, audio-visual orientation has been connected with the activity of touch on the one hand, and with the elements of theatre on the other hand. Grygar co-operated with the musical theorist Vladimir Lebl, and this co-operation gave birth, among others, to the exhibition for the festival of experimental music at Smolenice in 1970. The ''Black-and-White Counterpoints'' by J. and J. Kořán of 1971 testify to the audio-visual character of this type of work.
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; Notes
 +
<gallery>
 +
File:Grygar Milan text excerpt.jpg
 +
</gallery>
  
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; Publications
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; Sound releases
 +
* ''Acoustic Drawing 22 / Adagio'', Supraphon, 399861, 1969. [http://soundcloud.com/pauldavidkahn/montaz-akusticke-kresby-1969]
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* Milan Grygar, ''Kresba 18 A 17'', Supraphon, 1 49 9871, 1976. [http://www.discogs.com/Milan-Grygar-Kresba-18-A-17/release/2591292]
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 +
; Films and documentation
 +
* ''Akustická kresba'' [Acoustic Drawing], dir. Ľudovít Vavro, 1968
 +
* ''Černobílé kontrapunkty'', 35 mm, dir. Josef and Jaroslav Kořán, 1971
 +
* ''Prstová partitura'', 16 mm, dir. Dobroslav Zborník, 1982
 +
* ''Hmatová kresba'' [Haptic Drawing], 16 mm, dir. Dobroslav Zborník, 1983
 +
* ''Akustické realizace a hmatová kresba'', dir. Alexandre Broniarski, Bruno Laurin, 1993
 +
 
 +
== Publications==
 +
; Books and catalogues
 +
* Mojmír Grygar, Jaromír Paclt, ''Milan Grygar: nová kresba'', Prague: Galerie bratří Čapků, 1966.
 +
* Jiří Valoch, Jan Sekera, ''Milan Grygar'', catalogue, Prague: Středočeská galerie, 1991.
 +
* Jozef Cseres, ''Milan Grygar: Akustické kresby a partitúry'', catalogue, Nové zámky 1992.
 +
* Hana Larvová, ''John Cage, François Morellet, Milan Grygar: Otevřená forma'', catalogue, Dům U kamenného zvonu 1993-1994.
 +
* Jiří Zemánek, ''Milan Grygar: Obraz a zvuk'', catalogue,, Prague: National Gallery, 1997.
 +
* Milan Grygar, ''Obraz a Zvuk / Image and Sound'', catalogue, Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art in Prague, with Gema Art, 1999.
 +
* Josef Hlaváček, ''Milan Grygar: Obraz a barva'', catalogue, Litoměřice: Severočeská galerie výtvarného umění, 2001.
 +
* ''Milan Grygar / akustické kresby a partitury'', with audio CD, Zdeněk Sklenář Gallery, 2006.
 +
* ''Monografie Milan Grygar'', Gema Gallery, 2009.
 +
* Hana Larvová, ''Milan Grygar'', catalogue, Prague, 2009.
 +
* [[Media:Grygar_Milan_Lovec_hadu_catalogue.pdf|''Lovec hadů: Milan Grygar, 1961-1989'']], Prague: Terryho ponožky, 2013. [http://www.terry-posters.com/vystavni-cinnost/38-zlata-era-ceskoslovenskeho-filmoveho-plakatu--vii--milan-grygar Previous exhibition (2009)]
 +
 
 +
; Articles
 +
* Mojmír Grygar, "Jak se čte kresba", manuscript, 1996-1999.
 +
* Florent Fajole, [http://www.new-mag.com/pdf/fajole-grygar.pdf "Garder le silence / Keeping the Silence"], ''new!'' 3, 2007. (French/English)
 
* [http://www.electronicbeats.net/2012/09/09/hans-ulrich-obrist-interviews-milan-grygar/ "Interview: Hans Ulrich Obrist speaks to Milan Grygar"], ''Electronic Beats'', September 2012.
 
* [http://www.electronicbeats.net/2012/09/09/hans-ulrich-obrist-interviews-milan-grygar/ "Interview: Hans Ulrich Obrist speaks to Milan Grygar"], ''Electronic Beats'', September 2012.
  
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; See also
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; Theses
 +
* Jana Matulová, [http://is.muni.cz/th/167250/ff_m/ ''Mezi obrazem a zvukem / Grafické partitury a jejich význam v současném audiovizuálním umění''], Master thesis, Brno: Masaryk University, 2012. (Czech)
 +
* Šárka Masopustová, [http://is.muni.cz/th/262455/ff_m/ "Tvorba Milana Grygara v intermediálním kontextu"], Master thesis, Brno: Masaryk University, 2012. (Czech)
 +
 
 +
== See also==
 
[[Czech_Republic#Electroacoustic_and_experimental_music.2C_sound_art]]
 
[[Czech_Republic#Electroacoustic_and_experimental_music.2C_sound_art]]
  
−
[[Category:Electroacoustic music|Grygar, Milan]]
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==Links==
 +
* [http://artlist.cz/?id=2554&lang=1 Grygar at Artlist]
 +
* [http://abart-full.artarchiv.cz/osoby.php?i=3&Fprijmeni=Grygar Grygar at abART]
 +
* [http://www.terry-posters.com/plakaty/parametr-1-autori/16-grygar-milan Grygar's posters and book covers at Terry-Posters.com]
 +
* [http://zkm.de/event/2016/07/milan-grygar-sound-on-paper Exhibition at ZKM], Karlsruhe, 2016.
 +
 
 +
{{featured article}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grygar, Milan}} [[Category:Electroacoustic music]] [[Category:Sound art]]

Revision as of 12:31, 31 December 2016


A portrait from the artist's archive.
Born October 24, 1926(1926-10-24)
Zvolen, Czechoslovakia
Milan Grygar.jpg
Photo by Miroslav Jodas

Czechoslovak audiovisual artist, painter, and typographer. Milan Grygar was born in Zvolen, Slovakia in 1926. After graduating from the College of Applied Arts, Prague (where he studied under Professor Emil Filla) he concentrated on still lifes which evolved into colour compositions devoid of subject matter. In 1964 he produced a series of 64 black-and-white drawings using the principle of a linear sequence. Working in a fast rhythm, he could "hear" the drawing he was creating. From there, it was only a step to a discovery that was to define his future artistic career and bring him recognition. Grygar began tape recording the acoustic process of drawing. In 1965 he started to pursue the relationship between drawing and sound, and in 1966 exhibited his first acoustic drawings with accompanying tape recordings. These New Drawings led him to the direction known as the New Music, and were followed by large drawings and paintings recording hand movements. The next stage concerned mechanic-acoustic drawings in which Grygar employed resounding mechanisms as drawing tools. A new comprehensive series entitled Ground-Plan Scores [Půdorysné partitury] started to take shape in 1967. In the series, drawings are composed as projections of "spread" sounds.

In 1970, Grygar held a performance called Audiovisual Relations [Audiovizuální vztahy] in the Ales Hall, Prague, in the course of which he executed an acoustic drawing as well as a unique haptic drawing, which he entered as a material being producing a drawing with his fingers, without the supervision of sight. Similar performances took place in Brno (1968; 1973, including Homage to Magic), at the Museum of Art in Łódź (at Ryszard Stanisławski's invitation, 1974), Prague (1985), at a festival in Ghent (1986), and in Warsaw (2010) [1]. The artist renders all his drawings and paintings as scores based on different principles (e.g. colour scores in which he sets a precise list of musicians and sound sources, architectural, 12 horizons etc.). Another spur for a sound interpretation was provided by sound-relief drawings which Grygar explored from 1972. In 1976, this system of a rhythmical square grid gave way to the linear principle in drawings which can be also interpreted acoustically. Large-format drawings referred to as spatial scores are offset by White Images [Bílé obrazy] (1980).

Grygar His collaboration with a musical theorist Vladimír Lébl gave a way to an exhibition for the festival of experimental music at Smolenice in 1970. His Architectonic Score (1970) was realized by the Erhard Karkoschka's group from Stuttgart in 1973 (Theater der Altstadt, Stuttgart) and 1983 (3. Stuttgarter Sommerkurse), other scores by Agon Orchestra, Jean-Yves Bosseur, or MoEns group from Prague.

In 1986 Milan Grygar participated in the Chambres d'Amis international event in Ghent. The last phase of his work is associated with Black Images [Černé obrazy] on the principle of black planes and colour lines in which the key part is played by fixed light. Milan Grygar's acoustic drawings were published by Supraphon on two LP's in 1969 and 1976.

Works

Acoustic Drawings

  • 1965

  • Acoustic Drawing Aa, 1967

  • Acoustic Drawing Ad, 1967

  • 1967

  • A18

  • 1986

Tactile Drawing, performance, 1969

  • Photo by Josef Prošek

  • Photo by Josef Prošek

  • Photo by Josef Prošek

  • Photo by Josef Prošek

  • 1969

  • 1969

‎

Ground-Plan Score

  • Ground-Plan Score + Formula‎, 1968

  • Ground-Plan Score with Objects, 1968

  • Ground-Plan Score for Five Large and One Small Ariston, 1968

  • Ground-Plan Score, realisation, 1968 ‎

Other scores

  • Calligraphic Score, pre-1970

  • 80 Optical Records of a Sound of the Screws, 1969

  • Score - Sound Layers Project, 1969

  • Architectonic Score, 1970

  • Architectonic Score, 1970

  • CBDA Land Score, 1971

  • Blue Score, 1972

  • Finger Score, 1972

  • Linear Score, 1981

Notes
  • Grygar Milan text excerpt.jpg
Sound releases
  • Acoustic Drawing 22 / Adagio, Supraphon, 399861, 1969. [2]
  • Milan Grygar, Kresba 18 A 17, Supraphon, 1 49 9871, 1976. [3]
Films and documentation
  • Akustická kresba [Acoustic Drawing], dir. Ľudovít Vavro, 1968
  • Černobílé kontrapunkty, 35 mm, dir. Josef and Jaroslav Kořán, 1971
  • Prstová partitura, 16 mm, dir. Dobroslav Zborník, 1982
  • Hmatová kresba [Haptic Drawing], 16 mm, dir. Dobroslav Zborník, 1983
  • Akustické realizace a hmatová kresba, dir. Alexandre Broniarski, Bruno Laurin, 1993

Publications

Books and catalogues
  • Mojmír Grygar, Jaromír Paclt, Milan Grygar: nová kresba, Prague: Galerie bratří Čapků, 1966.
  • Jiří Valoch, Jan Sekera, Milan Grygar, catalogue, Prague: Středočeská galerie, 1991.
  • Jozef Cseres, Milan Grygar: Akustické kresby a partitúry, catalogue, Nové zámky 1992.
  • Hana Larvová, John Cage, François Morellet, Milan Grygar: Otevřená forma, catalogue, Dům U kamenného zvonu 1993-1994.
  • Jiří Zemánek, Milan Grygar: Obraz a zvuk, catalogue,, Prague: National Gallery, 1997.
  • Milan Grygar, Obraz a Zvuk / Image and Sound, catalogue, Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art in Prague, with Gema Art, 1999.
  • Josef Hlaváček, Milan Grygar: Obraz a barva, catalogue, Litoměřice: Severočeská galerie výtvarného umění, 2001.
  • Milan Grygar / akustické kresby a partitury, with audio CD, Zdeněk Sklenář Gallery, 2006.
  • Monografie Milan Grygar, Gema Gallery, 2009.
  • Hana Larvová, Milan Grygar, catalogue, Prague, 2009.
  • Lovec hadů: Milan Grygar, 1961-1989, Prague: Terryho ponožky, 2013. Previous exhibition (2009)
Articles
Theses

See also

Czech_Republic#Electroacoustic_and_experimental_music.2C_sound_art

Links

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