In this book, painter, sculptor and illustrator Věra Nováková (b. 1928) tells her life story, which unfolds against the background of the major historical upheavals of the 20th and part of the 21st century. It begins with the family idyll of the First Republic, continues through the war years to her admission to the Academy of Fine Arts, from which she was expelled in 1949 on the basis of a political decision of the student screening committee. She and her husband, the painter Pavel Brázda, remained practically without the opportunity to exhibit or confront their works with the public until 1989. "I painted what I lived," she says in an interview - and she documents this not only in her "key" paintings Thus Ends the Glory of the World and After the End, but also, for example, in her journey to Christianity. The backbone of the now 55-year-old artist's narrative are published and unpublished texts, including many archival documents, diary entries and records of personal interviews, which are supplemented by photographs and reproductions of her artworks. The title refers to Nietzsche's Ropewalker, which became one of the inspirational motifs of Věra Nováková's work. The book was organised and prepared for publication by Marie Kratochvílová.
Czech edition