Michal Ranný: Krajiny, 2017

Michal Ranný

(* July 30, 1946 Brno - † February 6, 1981 Prague)

"Quiet, modest (in painting), without gestures and without pathos. Definitive, like the imprint of a fossil shell in a stone. Equally simple and fragile. " / from the letter of Jos. Velčovský to father of M. Ranný from 1986 /

Michal Ranný belonged to a generation of painters whose artistic profile was formed in the 1960s. He came from a family of artists - Emanuel Ranný and Zdeňka, née Samsonová. Already during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, he introduced himself as a painter with a distinctive artistic expression and extraordinary talent. From the beginning, it was clear that the domain of his work would be the landscape, which the painter used mainly ink drawings and watercolor to grasp and depict.

Michal Ranný studied at the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Brno in 1961–65 with prof. Jiří Coufal, continued at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague with prof. František Jiroudek and Jiří John. The beginnings of his painting were connected with the landscape of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, to which he kept returning and which was one of his great sources of inspiration. The influences of Jiří John, Josef Šíma and Robert Hliněnský are also unquestionable. He devoted himself with the same interest to the suburban areas of Prague and the plein airs of the Bohemian Central Highlands of the foothills of the Tišnov region. He traveled abroad to other major topics, especially to Italy and France. The first of them - on the island of Belle Île - had the greatest influence on him. Hence his interest in horizontal curves. The motif of rocks, interest in natural elements of inorganic origin, but above all the structure and color of the stones of the coast and the sea then accompany him until the end of his work.

Towards the end of the 1960s, around the time of his stay in Crikvenica, Yugoslavia, red began to appear in watercolors in addition to shades of gray and brown. Over the years, he adds other colors to the palette, especially blue and yellow. Initially, organic forms give way at the end of the work to a geometric order to a minimalist expression. He gradually worked his way up from realistic expression to abstraction - gestural cartoon lines and monochrome color. His work has been reaching its peak since the mid-1970s, in the technique of ink-washed drawings, by which Michal Ranný enriched the flow of Czech abstract and lyrical painting. Michal Ranný's work is represented in leading Czech galleries. The artist who died prematurely was an exceptional artist whose significance transcends the boundaries of his own generation and ranks him among important Czech artists.

Every two years, the Moravian Gallery in Brno announces the Michal Ranný Award, which is given to artists whose work and thinking significantly influence the next generation.

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