BIOGRAPHY
Milan Grygar was born on 24 October 1926 in Zvolen (Slovakia).
1942-1943 He studied at the Secondary School of Arts and Crafts in Brno (prof. F. Kalivoda, Z. Rossman)
1943-1945 He was deployed labourer to work in the German war industry
1945-1950 He studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (in the monumental painting studio prof. J. Novák and Emil Filla)
1960-1963 Abstract paintings
1963-1934 Linear drawings
1965 First acoustic artwork
1967 First acoustic artwork with mechanical objects, groun-plan scores and scores-patterns
1969 Tactile artwork and various types of scores. Cooperation with acoustic laboratory of the Institute of Art History of the Academy of Sciences of Czechoslovakia
Gramophone record (LP)- Acoustic work number 22 and Adagio, Supraphon
1972 First sound-plastic drawings and linear scores
2009 In 2009, Gema Art published the extensive “Monografie Milana Grygara” (Monograph of Milan Grygar) with an enclosed CD containing 16 acoustic compositions. The book was nominated for the “2009 Graphic Masterpiece Award” by the Academy of Design of the Czech Republic.
Exhibitions
1970 musical realization "Partitury směrů zvuku" ("Sound Direction Score", 1969), first performed by Erhard Karkoschka and Ensemble Neue Musik der Stuttsgarter Musikhochsuchle in Stuttgartu, Germany
1971 film "Černobílé kontrapunkty" ("Black and White Counterpointss", directed by Josef Kořán and Jaroslav Kořán)
1973 realization of acoustic drawings in the acoustic chamber of the Czech Society for Musicology in Hradec Králové
1974 a solo exhibition in Sztuki Museum in Lódz, Poland (acustic realizations and tactile drawings)
1976 in colaboration with Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and with Acoustic laboratory of the Institute of Art History of Academy of Sciences of Czechoslovakia issued second gramophone record with acoustig artwork (Supraphon)
1980 linear and space scores (white paintings)
1981 sound plastic drawings "Kresby pro trvající zvuk" (" Drawings for Long-Lasting Sound", 1973) performed by E. Karkoschka and T. Ungvary in the electronic studio Computer Music EMS (Stockholm, Sweden)
1982-83 films "Prstová partitura" ("Finger Score"), "Živá kresba" ("Living Drawing"), "Hmatová kresba" ("Tactile Drawing")
1986 black paintings, participation in the "Chambre d´Amis" exhibition in Van Gedendaagse Kunst Museum in Ghent (Belgium)
1994 black and white paintings, participation in the exhibition "Otevřená forma" - "Open form exhibition" (John Cage-Francois Morelet-Milan Grygar) in the Prague City Gallery
1995 white and red paintings
1997 Red Antiphones
1998 White Antiphones
1999 retrospective exhibition at the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Gallery in Prague
LARVOVÁ, H., BREGANTOVÁ, P. Milan Grygar - Monograph. Prague: Gema Art, 2009. 368 p., ISBN 978-80-904422-0-7.
BOSSEUR, J. Y., ZEMÁNEK, J., GRYGAR, M. Milan Grygar. Prague: Gema Art, 1999.192 p., ISBN 80-86087-24-7.
LOCKHART, G. S. – SEDLÁKOVÁ, L.: Milan Grygar. A rare interview with the highly influential Czech sound-artist and Graphic designer, Colour Format: A compendium of visual culture: past, present and future, Issue 1, 2014.