hero-milos
ARTIST IN FOCUS

“A hidden gem, a unique colorful world, a
sensitive artistic soul.”

QUICK FACTS

Time Period:
1923-2002 (aged 79)

Nationality:
Czech

Known for:
Painting, drawing, graphic design

Movement:
Graphic art, modernism

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MILOŠ REINDL

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1923, Milos Reindl is one of the most remarkable yet unknown artists of his generation. Trained in the ateliers of Emil Filla and Antonin Kybal, Reindl arrived in Canada in 1968 as a political refugee

Milos Reindl (1923-2002) studied painting, drawing and graphic art at the Czech Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in the ateliers of the great avant-garde painter Emil Filla and the famed textile artist Antonin Kybal. Reindl graduated in 1951 and in the same year married Helena Pokorny, a fellow student and a niece of the sculptor Karel Pokorny.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Reindl painted and designed textiles and advertisements, particularly film posters. Shortly after defecting from Czechoslovakia in 1968, he arrived in Canada as a political refugee. Reindl was offered a professorship in the faculty of fine arts at Université Laval, in Quebec City, where he ended up working for almost thirty years. His unorthodox teaching methods and rich central European intellectual background gained him considerable popularity, and contributed to the international success of many of his pupils.

In parallel with his teaching, Reindl continued to paint, and during his 35 years in exile in Canada he created hundreds of oil paintings, gouaches, and drawings. The subject matter of his work appears mostly introspective, however on second glance, his art actually contains social criticism, and expresses empathy for the victims of oppression and war.

Reindl’s style was not influenced by the mainstream artistic expression of the late 20th century, but was consciously based on European modern art (most notably the works of Matisse, Chagall, Picasso and Dubuffet) and sometimes also gives homage to earlier European history of painting (Durer, Tintoretto, Goya, and Chardin). Although tributes and references to these renowned artists are easy to recognize in Reindl’s work, his art has its own unique style, recognizable by the masterful lines of his drawings and the unfettered colours of his paintings, the contrast between flat forms and the often almost Baroque compositions, brimming with apparently random details. The flattened perspective, colour, figurative symbolism, and mainly, Filla’s legacy of lyrical Cubism formed the basis of Reindl’s means of expression, composition and iconography.

RENATA HOCHELBER
Chief Curator

MILOS REINDL COLLECTIONS

DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS AND MORE...

The Palbric Art Foundation’s Milos Reindl collection spans many years of the artist’s work, from his early film posters in Czechoslovakia, to a lifetime’s worth of colorful paintings and poignant drawings

MILOS REINDL ARCHIVE

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT MILOS REINDL

We are constantly updating our archive of Milos Reindl articles, media and research material. Get to know the artist, the man, and the history behind his remarkable artwork.