In the 1950s, Josef Hampl learned realistic painting and tried various printmaking techniques (
drypoint,
linocut, woodcut). His acquaintance with
Vladimír Boudník influenced his further work. In 1959–1962, he worked with structural and active graphics and made blind prints from relief matrices (
Active print, 1959). In his abstract structural paintings he used, for example, found scratches of industrial synthetic paints or sand with synthetic binder as relief elements (
Slow Catastrophe, 1963,
Blue Unrest, 1965). His work from the first half of the 1960s is characterized by a creative search and exploration of other artistic means in an attempt to counter and overcome the strong impulse of Boudník's graphic work. In 1964–1965, circular motifs as symbols of the planets predominate in his graphic sheets, created using a variety of techniques. The paintings have dark colours and usually combine structural graphics with relief painting or assemblage (
Space of Silence, 1965). He also created a series of prints using frottage calligraphic script from old Jewish tombstones (
Kafka, monofrottage, 1969). The need for a fixed order gradually prevailed in his works, and in a series of so-called counter-types from the late 1960s, he combined abstract monotypes with regular grids created using stencils. 01. Josef Hampl, Bez názvu, aktivní grafika, 27,5x14,5 cm, 1959.jpg|Untitled, active print, 1959 02. Josef Hampl, Hudební kompozice, kombinovaná technika, 8,7x13 cm, 1960.jpg|Musical Composition, combined technique, 1960 07. Josef Hampl, Pomalá katastrofa, kombinovaná technika, 110x85 cm, 1963.jpg|Slow Catastrophe, mixed media, 1963 10. Josef Hampl, Erupce I., monotyp, 1964.jpg|Eruption I., monotype, 1964 11. Josef Hampl, Bez názvu, monofrotáž, 1965.jpg|Untitled, monofrottage, 1965 12. Josef Hampl, Prostor ticha, kombinovaná technika, 115X90 cm, 1965- 66.jpg|Space of Silence, combined technique, 1965–66 15. Josef Hampl, Hlava IX, kontratyp, 48x36 cm, 1968.jpg|Head IX, counter-type, 1968 17. Josef Hampl, Kafka, monofrotáž, 1969.jpg|Kafka, monofrottage, 1969 At the beginning of the 1970s, Hampl's work developed under the sign of a "new sensibility", shaped by signal colours and working with purely geometric elements. His drawings from 1974, on the other hand, are minimalist geometric patterns, where the artist makes do only with red lines bordered by black lines. Offset black and white prints on canvas and monochrome geometric relief patterns from 1976 to 1977 already partly anticipate some of the sewn collages of the 1980s in their arrangement. Hampl's geometric compositions, with their meditative quality, break out of the classical tendencies of concrete art of the time. The period of
normalization was characterised by various private happenings and
conceptual art events in nature (R. Němec, E. Brikcius, I. Kafka, J. Beránek). In 1976, Josef Hampl, in collaboration with his third wife, the photographer
Hana Hamplová, created a series of spatial installations using long strips of organdy, called
Action arrow. In the 1980s he continued these activities (
Games with a Cube, 1982,
Crossing, 1983,
Chmelnice Mutějovice, 1983,
Labyrinth, 1984,
Stairway to Heaven, 1985). 18. Josef Hampl, Série RB 20-70, olej na překližce, laminovaná dřevotříska, 137x137 cm, 1970.jpg|Series RB 20–70, oil on plywood, laminated chipboard, 137x137 cm, 1970 20. Josef Hampl, Bez názvu, fotogram 4, 59 x49 cm, 1975.jpg|Untitled, photogram 4, 1975 21. Josef Hampl, Akce Šipka, organtýn 50x1 m, 1976.jpg|Action Arrow, organtine 50x1 m, 1976 23. Josef Hampl, H systém (3), kombinovaná technika, 60x60 cm, 1977.jpg|H system (3), mixed media, 60x60 cm, 1977 22. Josef Hampl, A (7), ofset na plátně, 60x60 cm, 1977.jpg|A (7), offset on canvas, 60x60 cm, 1977 24. Josef Hampl, Rotace šrafůry 2, frotáž, 62x48 cm, 1980.jpg|Rotation of a hatch 2, frottage, 62x48 cm, 1980 27. Josef Hampl, Sektor II, linořez a perforáž, 90x60 cm, 1984.jpg|Sector II, linocut and perforation, 90x60 cm, 1984 28. Josef Hampl, Kresba z cyklu IX, kresba a perforáž, 84x63 cm, 1986.jpg|From cycle IX, drawing and perforation, 1986 In the graphic sheets and pencil drawings combined with frottage and perforation (
Horizontal Structure - Dialogue, 1980,
Hatching 22, 1980), the consistent horizontal arrangement of the composition that is characteristic of the first sewn paper collages (
Layering with Blue, 1984) and the black and white drawings combined with sewing from the mid-1980s already appears. The very title of the entire large-scale series,
The Unpredictable Games (1982-1987), with its concentrated meditative symbolism of subtly rhythmic patterns, speaks to the sensitivity and vulnerability of the human soul and nature. The combination of the constructivist arrangement of the pictorial surface with the regular horizontal grid created by sewing became a completely new and original contribution of Josef Hampl to the technique of
collage itself. Some of the works are monumental in size (
Synthesis, 300 x 640 cm, 1985,
Wedge Landscape, Wedge of Landscape, object 800 x 400 x 300 cm, 1988). In later years, the artist used materials that contrast in colour or texture to create collages. In addition to various kinds of handmade papers, whose aesthetic effect lies in the changing surface texture and irregular composition of the matrix, he uses the contrast of the absolute blackness of angular punched papers, scraps of photographs, colored posters, tailor's cuts, used tea bags, wasps' nests, etc. Instead of sewing, he sometimes attaches scraps of paper with paper clips, which then act as linear drawings (
Horizontal EPP 2, 2000) or create autonomous dynamic patterns (
Probe - Lung, 1999,
Finding, 2004). 25. Josef Hampl, Bez názvu, šitá kresba na plátně, 200x90 cm, 1982-84.jpg|Untitled, sewn drawing on canvas, 1982–84 29. Josef Hampl, Nepostižitelné hry XIX., šitá kresba na plátně, 200x90 cm, 1987.jpg|Unpredictable Games XIX, sewn drawing on canvas, 1987 30. Josef Hampl, Bez názvu, šitá koláž na plátně 200x90 cm, 1989.jpg|Untitled, sewn collage on canvas, 1989 31. Josef Hampl, Zpráva, šitá koláž a kresba perem na plátně, 200x90 cm, 1991.jpg|Report, sewn collage and pen drawing on canvas, 1991 32. Josef Hampl, Bez názvu, šitá koláž, 58x41 cm, 1992.jpg|Untitled, sewn collage, 1992 34. Josef Hampl, Kompozice Figura III., šitá koláž na plátně, 100x70 cm, 1994.jpg|Figure III, sewn collage on canvas, 1994 35. Josef Hampl, Bez názvu, koláž na plátně, 100x70 cm, 1994.jpg|Untitled, collage on canvas, 1994 38. Josef Hampl, Chinatown New York, koláž šitá na plátně, 100x70 cm, 1997.jpg|Chinatown New York, collage on canvas, 1997 In some collages, the principle of free layering of diverse structures prevails, in others a strict geometric order and interpenetration of surfaces and spatial plans. In an extensive series
Roušky - Veils (1990-1991), the vertical axis of the collage contrasts with the edges in its structure or colour, and the deliberate asymmetry of the drawing brings a dynamic element to the quiet composition. The individual collages form an interconnected whole, but Hampl's artistic inventiveness makes each of them unique and unrepeatable. The colours of the collages are muted thanks to the raw materials used, and apart from white and black, red is usually used as a colour accent. During his scholarship in the
United States in 1992, Josef Hampl collected printed and handwritten calligraphic posters in
New York's Chinatown, from which he created an aesthetically and content-wise interesting set of collages in 1997, which reflect the bizarre atmosphere and energy of the place (
Chinatown New York, 1997). Hampl's collages, prints and drawings have always displayed a delicate tenderness and at the same time a rationality of constructivist tendencies close to a "new sensibility". He is one of the witnesses of the messianic role of art, which
Vladimír Boudník came up with. He understood art as creative work, as an exploration of an entrusted field, a claim, a symbolic space, which he explored systematically to the last detail and in all its conceivable nuances. • Art Gallery
Karlovy Vary • Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic •
Moravian Gallery in Brno • Graphiksammlung des XX. Jh., Deutscher Bundestag, Bonn • Museum für aktuelle Kunst, Utrecht • de Warande Culture Centre, Turnhout, Belgium • Stedelijk Museum, Toroke • Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart •
Museum Stucki, Lodz •
Pratt Graphics Centre, New York •
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor • • Museum and Gallery,
Hranice • Kassák múzeum és archívum, Budapest • State Jewish Museum, Prague • Ostfonds für kulturelle Angelegenheiten des Bundesministeriums für Unterricht und Kunst, Wienna • • Collection of the Prague Gas Works == References ==