Running Girl (SOLD OUT)

That is a very long story. I was a young, quite provocative sculptor in Prague at the time, because we were rebelling against the censorship of the Union of Fine Artists. Even so, I was commissioned to create a statue for a new shopping mall in Opava.

I originally proposed the Opava river with its tributaries, a sort of pool with arms and legs, with the statue of the river rising above it. There was no money for that. So I offered them a running girl, a smaller piece for which I had already finished a model long ago. The drawing dates back to the sixties, and the idea itself came about sometime around 1974.

The Running Girl was approved and had even been cast in bronze when a young communist rose to power in Opava—a cultural inspector. And suddenly, the statue couldn't be placed anywhere in Opava because, they claimed, people might interpret it as running from the East to the West. You see, she has an expression that is universal. It's not just about her running joyfully, but perhaps running from something. And they asked me if I would take a file, perhaps, and make the corners of her mouth smile more. I told them no way.

In the end, she didn't fit in front of the shopping mall anyway, because the person who drew the paths used a different French curve and made a mistake. So, they started looking for another spot.

Later, Kotalík and the National Gallery selected her for an exhibition of socialist states in Antwerp, at Middelheim. That was the first and, at the time, largest open-air sculpture museum, where they have works by Henry Moore, Calder, Maillol, and Rodin. And Middelheim wanted to buy it. The chief architect of Opava, an excellent and courageous man, took advantage of this. He declared that Opava must have such an important piece; they didn't allow the sale, and the statue was given a place in front of the House of Art, where it stands to this day.

We still had to shape the terrain for her, because she isn't meant to stand on a pedestal. The committee suggested a pedestal, but then she would be jumping over a box. I said she wasn't jumping over any box.

Middelheim eventually bought another cast, which stands there to this day, and the National Gallery has one too. People in Opava say: "Oh, the Running Girl, that's my youth, I used to walk past her." She became an icon. It's amazing that such a statue can even come to be. It wasn't easy, though.