The North Bohemian Collection is a collection of artworks by artists whose residence or creative focus is linked to North Bohemia. The reason for its creation was the fact that even the best North Bohemian artists appear only minimally in exhibitions outside the region, although their work can bear comparison with the level of nationally known artists. Therefore, in 2016 Roman Karpaš began to purposefully create a collection of paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures focusing primarily on modern art after 1945. The North Bohemian collection has been gradually growing and today it already contains more than 250 items by almost a hundred artists. The works are regularly presented to the public through exhibitions and some of them have been loaned to state galleries. They are also presented at www.severoceskasbirka.cz. For our exhibition, we have selected primarily contemporary artists. The exhibit brings a great breadth of artistic approaches and different printmaking techniques. There is, for example, probably the largest (perhaps even on a European scale) mezzotint by Dalibor Smutný, who is linked to our region by his student years in Jablonec nad Nisou. Jan Měřička's works printed on wool also have a special and unusual form. We can also find here a number of other peculiarities, because the new possibilities brought by the innovation of graphic techniques are inherent to the character of the work of many artists. Some of the exhibitors come from the Železnobrod region and its wider surroundings. For example, Jana Kasalová, both older and younger, Michal Machat, Hana Hančová, David Mazanec, who presented paintings at the previous exhibition, Eva Vlasáková, Josef Jíra, Jaroslav Klápště, Zdenka Hušková and many others.
Jana Kasalová st.: Quo vadis, 2019, coloured drypoint, 70 × 49 cm



The opening of the exhibition will be accompanied by a guided tour by the curator of the exhibition, Roman Karpas.