Věroslav Bergr, painter and sculptor, is one of the typical loners of the Czech art scene, a fact which makes it difficult to categorise his work within the Czech creative context. He maintained a distance from the main currents surrounding him all of his life. The only exception to this was his participation in the group A 59, which he co-founded during the relaxed atmosphere of the late fifties along with J. Hampl and other now mostly forgotten artists like M. Křištá, V. Mařatá, B. Zahradil and O. Fiedler. Although the group only lasted until 1965, it managed to organise three exhibitions. The first was a private show at Zahradil’s studio in Karlín, the second took place in 1963 in the New World street in Prague’s Lesser Quarter and was entitled Exhibition on the Wall, and the third was held in a gallery in Ostrov nad Ohří in 1965 in parallel with the exhibition underway by the Šmidrové group. Bergr’s friendship with J. Hampl, himself a friend of V. Boudník, a protagonist of one of the branches of Czech post-war abstraction, led Bergr to abstraction and structural technique. Bergr’s creative work directly reflects his life philosophy and creative approach. He did not give priority to a certain expressive form but moved between subjectivity and abstraction, finding a synthesis of both approaches in his final paintings. Lyrical landscapes alternate over the years with fantasy visions containing moral overtones, and some of his work is the creative transposition of music. Early on he was inspired by the impressionist music of M. Ravel, C. Debussy and L. Janáček. In an extensive cycle of abstract structural paintings created between 1958 and 1970 he attempted to find a reflection of the music of Gustav Mahler. From the middle of the fifties Bergr also concentrated on wood sculpture. Having sought the expressive possibilities of wood in his early abstract sculptures, in the sixties he arrived at the final form of the figural compositions, the result being a kind of “sculptural etude”. In the seventies and eighties he moved to biomorphous wooden sculptures and ensembles of graphic work and drawings, in which the constant threat of military and ecological catastrophe can be perceived. Bergr’s free creative output has its counterpart in illustrations. It was this that made him famous as an artists and illustrator. His illustrative work was closely related to the work of his wife, Zdenka, who wrote poetry and created outstanding translations. Bergr mainly illustrates poetry and lyrical prose, Russian prose writers and French poets alongside Czech authors. At present he has illustrated more than fifty books. Bergr has been again painting since the start of the nineties and has updated several of his original themes. In the paintings of the last two years he has been attempting to deal with the recent loss of his life partner.

1960-1988 Geodetic Research Center, Prague
1958-1963 Art School of Václav Hollar
1950-1958 Ukrainian Art Academy, Prague, Proessor. Ivan Kulec
1948-1960 Meopta Praha
1943-1946 trained as a precise mechanic at Logia in Prague

Awards:
2010 Mezinárodní asociace kultury a umění Zlatá Chrpa, Francie / zlatá medaile a čestný diplom
2007 Euro Pragensis Ars/ Cena za celoživotní výtvarnou činnost, především za Mahlerovské téma
1998 Evropský kruh Franz Kafka, Praha /ocenění za sochařskou a grafickou činnost

2008
Lomnice nad Popelkou, Muzeum a galerie

2006
Lomnice nad Popelkou, Městské muzeum

1999
Praha, Na Zátorce

1998
Jilemnice, Zámek a galerie
Lomnice nad Popelkou, Městské muzeum

1997
Havlíčkův Brod, Galerie umění
Praha, Jalta
Praha, Galerie U Křižovníků

1996
Rychnov nad Kněžnou, Zámek

1994
Třeboň, Carpio nakladatelství a knihkupectví

1990
Terezín, Muzeum
Lomnice nad Popelkou, Městské muzeum

1989
Praha, Karlov, Muzeum

1986
Praha, Galerie D

1984
Hradec Králové, Krajská galerie umění

1975
Karlovy vary, Galerie umění

1974
Lomnice nad Popelkou, Městské muzeum

1970
Ostrov nad Ohří, Galerie umění

1969
Praha, Nová síň
Písek, Oblastní muzeum
Cheb, Galerie umění

1966
Praha, Výstaviště, Malá galerie lapidária Národního muzea
Benešov, Šímova výstavní síň

1964
Praha, Výzkumný ústav estetiky

1962
Praha, Výzkumný ústav farmacie
Lomnice nad Popelkou, Městské divadlo

1959
Praha, divadlo Paradox

(selection)
2003
Praha, Národní knihovna, Ilustrace ke knihám Z.Bergrové

2002
Svitavy, Současná ilustrační tvorba

1998
Praha, Národní muzeum
Třeboň, Pražští malíři
1998/99/00/01 Havlíčkův Brod, Současná ilustrační tvorba

1997
Kladno, Výstava Sybdikátu
Praha, Galerie Miró

1995
Poděbrady, Galerie Regis
Praha, Mánes, Obrazy krajinářských inspirací
1995/96/97Havlíčkův Brod, Současná ilustrační tvorba

1994
Praha, Hosté Hollara

1993
Praha, Galerie Lazarská

1991
Německo, Tagernsee
Německo, Burgwedel

1990
Terezín, Památník, Výstava přírůstků
Praha, Mánes, Současná česká kniha

1988
Praha, Výstaviště, Pražský salon

1987
Liberec, Oblastní galerie, Soudobí ilustrátoři klasiků

1983
Praha, Středočeská galerie,

1974
Praha, Galerie U Řečických

1968
Praha, Galerie bratří Čapků, Vinohradský salon II

1967
Praha, Výstaviště, Pražský salon
Benešov, Šímova výstavní síň
Praha, Galerie bratří Čapků, Vinohradský salon I

1966
Rychnov nad Kněžnou, Zámecká galerie

1965
Ostrov nad Ohří, Galerie umění

1963
Praha, Nový svět, Výstava na zdi
Veselí nad Lužnicí

1960
Praha

1957
Praha AZKG Vysočany

1956
Praha, Meopta Košíře, S výtvarníky NDR

National Gallery, Prague, Museum of Czech Literature, Prague, Municipal Gallery, Prague, Gallery of Modern Art, Hradec Králové, Art Hallery, Karlovy Vary, Terezín Monument, Terezín, Art Gallery, Lomnice nad Popelkou, Zirc Art Gallery, Hungary, Krakow Art Gallery, Poland.

2008 Věroslav Bergr, malíř, sochař, grafik, Oftis Ústí nad Orlicí
1992 Věroslav Bergr, Astra