Jiří Anderle

“Those were sad experiences. I was still going home for the weekend back then. In the end, it only took an hour by bus or an hour by train and fifteen minutes by bus from Prague. I saw those beloved cows being taken out of the barns and to the collective stabling. My grandpa, who was long retired by then, worked in the collective stable as a night guard. I often used to bring him coffee there. I saw my neighbors slowly gathering in there, visiting their beloved cows which they cared about greatly. They would always grab the cow’s head, weep and said: ‘Aren’t you homesick in here? Aren’t your feet cold? Would you fancy an apple?’ They would pull apples out of their pockets. Those were emotional scenes. ‘Don’t you want some bread? You used to love bread crusts so much!’ Now, those cow eyes… I will never forget it in my life. It was terrible.”

“I created a series of graphic works and when one of my colleagues from the Academy saw it, he said: ‘This can’t just lay here. Art historians must see it.’ Such a selfless peer he was, without grudge or envy: ‘I like it so much, I have to show it to Dr. Mašín. And to Kotalík.’ These two saw it and told about it to professor Míček who included me in a breakthrough exhibition which took place here in 1966 on the occasion of the International Association of Art Critic’s congress. The topic was clear – current tendencies of Czech fine arts. Furthermore, the catalogue started with the sentence: ‘The exhibition is framed from the youngest to the oldest generation. From A to Z, from Anderle to Zrzavý.’ At that instant I lost all of my friends from the arts world. I was holed up with the Black Light Theatre when suddenly I crawled up as a snake out of the hole with such a glorification. Anyone would be annoyed by that. Moreover, I was travelling the world.”

“Once, Bohumil Hrabal was at our place; he used to come every Tuesday. Suddenly, a mailwoman showed up and brought a telegram. I read it, passed it to Bogan (Bohumil) and told him: ‚Somebody is probably kidding me. It is impossible that I would have won the Grand Prix at such an important biennale. Especially since Adriena Šimotová won here last year.‘ He replied: ‚Well, let’s go to the post office and ask whether it is possible to falsify a telegram.‘ We walked across the Hradčanské square, passing those canonical houses. I remember Bogan telling me: ‚Whenever I go this way past this gate and corner I have an angst, waiting for a leg to appear and kick me. You are in the same situation as me. My books get published... The King of England was published in Swedish and Italian. But nobody talks about it here. Remember that we live in a country which doesn’t forgive somebody’s success. We must learn to mute our gloss.‘ I remember these exact words. We entered this post office and he asked at the counter: ‚We’ve gotten this telegram, please check whether it is genuine or whether someone is just making fun of us.‘ It was this tiny office right across the entrance to St. Vitus cathedral. The lady had a look at it and said: ‚It all fits, it is genuine.‘ And he replied: ‚See, dude, congratulations!‘“