ARTIST
Tiffany Leigeber
TITLE
Devotion
DATE
2020
MEDIUM
Wood, canvas, oil paint and 24k gold leaf
DIMENSIONS
Width 18” x Height 24”. (548.64 cm x 731.52 cm)
CREDIT LINE
On display from the arist
CURRENT LOCATION
Czech Center Museum 4920 San Jacinto St. Houston, TX 77004
Prague Hall
CLASSIFICATION
Painting
PROVENANCE
Jonesboro, Arkansas
‘Devotion’. Photo courtesy of the artist’s Instagram.
Tiffany Leigeber is a self-taught artist based in Jonesboro, Arkansas who donates half her proceeds to charities. Her palette uses white, gray, black, and gold--namely leaf gold. This gives her art a rich brightness to contrast the softer shadows and unfinished simplicity of her paintings and sculptures. She cites Rembrandt, Matisse, and Lichtenstein as some of her influences. Her display at the Czech Center and Museum, Czechs and Americans, presents 16 pieces of Czech heritage and history.
‘Devotion’ uses black and white oil paint on wood to create an unfinished look for an icon of a famous Bohemian saint. Icons are traditional paintings used for religious devotions, particularly in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox religions. They are characteristically rich in symbolism, painted on wood, and use gold leaf to depict heavenly light.
This painting is a modern icon to Saint Ludmila of Bohemia, patron saint of duchesses, widows, and problematic in-laws. She and her husband Borivoj are credited with being the first Czech Christian rulers, though they were temporarily exiled for their beliefs. Ludmila became regent for her grandson Wenceslas (patron saint of Bohemia) and raised him as a Christian. This caused conflict with the pagans, including Wenceslas’s mother Drahomira. Leigeber represents the significance of Ludmila’s religious choice through the Bible in one hand and the single candle in the other, which often represented the light of God through humanity in religious iconography and services. Leigeber frames the saint in poppies, which symbolize death, the underworld, and funeral rites. Ludmila was assassinated, and legend says Drahomira had her strangled with her own shawl.
TITLE
Vanoce
DATE
2020
MEDIUM
Wood, canvas, oil paint and 24k gold leaf
DIMENSIONS (approx.)
Width 12.5” x Height 15”. (32 cm x 38 cm)
CREDIT LINE
On display from the arist
CURRENT LOCATION
Czech Center Museum 4920 San Jacinto St. Houston, TX 77004
Prague Hall
CLASSIFICATION
Painting
PROVENANCE
Jonesboro, Arkansas
‘Vanoce’. Photo courtesy of the artist’s Instagram.
‘Vanoce’, based on an old photograph, shows two small children playing with a carp in a bathtub. On Christmas Eve, bathtubs throughout eastern Europe are a temporary home to carp fishes before they become Christmas dinner. Carp became a traditional Christmas dish in the 17th century thanks to the Czech tradition of a meatless holiday fast--and the historical notion that carp was not technically meat. This tradition has continued even after the popularity of refrigeration, but some Czech families now practice the tradition of setting the carp free on Christmas Day. The figures in the painting represent the children who play with their dinners on Christmas Eve. Here, the children interact with the gilded carp represent the children who play with their dinners on Christmas Eve. The gold surrounding them reflects the warm glow of a cozy winter night.
TITLE
Milena
DATE
2020
MEDIUM
Wood, canvas, oil paint and 24k gold leaf
DIMENSIONS (approx.)
Width 26” x Height 38”. (66 cm x 96 cm)
CREDIT LINE
On display from the arist
CURRENT LOCATION
Czech Center Museum 4920 San Jacinto St. Houston, TX 77004
Prague Hall
CLASSIFICATION
Painting
PROVENANCE
Jonesboro, Arkansas
‘Milena’. Photo courtesy of the artist’s Instagram.
‘Milena’ is an homage to Milena Jesenska--journalist, editor, translator, and a member of the Czech resistance during Nazi Occupation. She was part of Vienna and Prague’s intellectual and ideological circles, a Communist until the Soviet ‘show trials’ of 1936, and one of the first to translate Franz Kafka’s works into the Czech language. Milena’s independent streak continued into Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, when her home became a way station for those being smuggled out of the country. She was arrested in 1940 and died in the Ravensbruck concentration camp in 1944, three weeks before D-Day.
Leigeber paints Milena in a similar style to Saint Ludmila in ‘Devotion’, as if Milena was a saint herself. Her traditional white outfit and stoic face are painted with careful attention to shadow--a stark contrast to the undefined cloud of white and gold paint above her veiled head. Leigeber details this symbolic headdress with tiny black dots or small lines grouped in threes.