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{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix = 
| name             = Theodor Pištěk, MFA
| honorific_suffix = 
| image            = Theodor Pištěk (2017).jpg
| image_size       = 250 px
| alt              = 
| caption          = Theodor Pištěk (2017)
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| birth_name       = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1932|10|25}} 
| birth_place      = Prague
| baptised         = <!-- will not display if birth_date is entered -->
| death_date       = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> 
| death_place      = 
| resting_place    = 
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| nationality      = 
| education        = [[Academy of Fine Arts in Prague]]
| alma_mater       = 
| known_for        = paintings, film costumes and sets
| notable_works    = 
| style            = 
| home_town        = 
| movement         = 
| spouse           = 
| partner          = Věra Filipová, assistant film director
| parents          =  
| father           = [[Theodor Pištěk (actor)|Theodor Pištěk]]
| mother           = Marie Ženíšková
| relatives        = 
| family           = Jan Pištěk, Martin Pištěk, sons
| awards           = [[Academy Awards|Oscar]], [[César Awards|César Award]], [[Crystal Globe (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)|Crystal Globe]], [[Czech Lion Award for Unique Contribution to Czech Film]], [[Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)|First Grade Medal of Merit]]
| elected          = 
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}}
'''Theodor Pištěk''' (born 25 October 1932 in Prague) is a Czech painter, costume designer, set designer and former [[Auto racing|racing driver]]. His costume designs and film sets are internationally acclaimed. He won an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] for his costumes for [[Amadeus (film)|Amadeus]], directed by [[Miloš Forman]]. For [[Miloš Forman|Forman]]’s next film, [[Valmont (film)|Valmont]], Pištěk won a [[César Awards|César Award]] and was nominated for an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]]. In 2003 he received the [[Czech Lion Award for Unique Contribution to Czech Film]], in 2013 he was awarded the [[Crystal Globe (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)|Crystal Globe]] for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, and in 2017 he received the Golden Slipper for Outstanding Contribution to Films for Children and Young People.
== Life ==
[[File:Theodor Pištěk, hokejový dres klubu Paleta vlasti, 1962.jpg|thumb|Theodor Pištěk, ''Palette of the Motherland'' ice hockey club dress, 1962]]
Theodor Pištěk is the son of two actors, Theodor Pištěk and Marie Ženíšková. He inherited his family’s artistic talent and love of automobiles: his great-grandfather [[František Ženíšek]] was a painter, and his grandfather Julius Ženíšek worked for the [[Wright Company]] and was the founder and owner of the [[Ford Motor Company]]´s branch in Austria-Hungary; in 1895 Julius Ženíšek became one of the first to own a [[racing car]]. The actions of his business partner bankrupted the company, and the family was forced to sell [[František Ženíšek]]’s valuable collection of paintings.<ref>Helena Musilová (ed.), Theodor Pištěk, 2013, p. 86</ref>

After four years at a grammar school, Theodor Pištěk switched to the [[Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague|School of Applied Arts in Prague]] (1948–1952), where his fellow students included Aleš Veselý and Milan Ressel. Pištěk learned to drive when he was just 16 years old, and at the age of 18, after passing his driving test, he joined the ''Automotoklub'' and started competing in [[Auto racing|car races]]. In 1952 he was accepted by the [[Academy of Fine Arts in Prague]], where he was studying under Vratislav Nechleba, a prominent portrait painter. At the time of his studies, a number of respected pre-war artists and historians (Miloslav Holý, Vlastimil Rada, Vladimír Sychra, [[Otakar Španiel]], Jan Lauda, Václav Vilém Štech) held professorships at the Academy, and among the students were Jan Koblasa, Karel Nepraš, [[Bedřich Dlouhý]], František Mertl, Jiří Valenta, Milan Ressel, Hugo Demartini, [[Aleš Veselý]] and Jaroslav Vožniak. His graduation painting, ''Boxer'', earned him an extension to his studies in the form of an honours year in Antonín Pelc’s studio. A mastery of painting was important, but Pištěk and his fellow students and friends were more interested in modern art. They countered the oppressiveness of communist rule with all manner of absurdist extracurricular activities. In 1962 Pištěk and a group called ''The Šmidras'' founded an amateur [[Ice hockey|ice hockey club]] called ''Palette of the Motherland'', whose president he was in 1977–1979.

In 1958 Theodor Pištěk married Věra Filipová, an assistant film director, with whom he would have two sons (Jan, *1961 and Martin, *1967). In the following year he designed costumes and sets for [[František Vláčil]]’s film [[The White Dove (1960 film)|The White Dove]]. He had a studio in Břevnov in Prague, next door to Zbyněk Sekal’s studio, thanks to whom Pištěk met the art critic Jindřich Chalupecký and exhibited as a guest with the ''May 57'' group in 1964–1968. The two artists remained close friends until Sekal emigration in 1968; Pištěk subsequently visited him in Vienna, where he met the sculptor [[Karl Prantl (sculptor)|Karl Prantl]].

Pištěk’s first solo exhibition was in 1960 at the ''Film Club in Prague''. In 1964–1968 he was included in exhibitions by the [[Concrete art|Concretist Club]]. In 1964 he acquired a new studio from Hugo Demartini in Vinohrady. In the 1960s he was a [[racing driver]], and he competed on circuits and in the [[FIA European Formula 3 Cup|European Cup]] (1967–1969). In 1967 he worked as a [[costume designer]] on [[František Vláčil]]’s films [[Markéta Lazarová]] and [[The Valley of the Bees]], and was one of the artists who designed the Czechoslovak pavilion at [[Expo 67|Expo 67 in Montreal]]. In 1972–1973 he was nominated for the Czechoslovak national circuit [[Auto racing|racing team]]. Pištěk stopped racing in 1974, but he drew on his experience as a [[racing driver]] to co-write with [[František Vláčil|Vláčil]] the screenplay for a film called ''Rally''.<ref>Miloš Macourek, in: Jiří Šetlík, Jana Brabcová (eds.), 2007, p. 76</ref> Since 1975 Pištěk has concentrated on painting. He is usually considered a photorealist, but in the [[Eastern Bloc]] such paintings almost always had a clandestine symbolism that could be read between the lines.<ref>[https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/35137/east-of-eden-photorealism-versions-of-reality/ East of Eden / Photorealism: Versions of Reality. Photorealism as a Cold-War phenomenon, Budapest, 2012]</ref>

In 1977 a cycle of paintings by Pištěk received a special mention from the jury at the ''International Festival of Painting'' in [[Cagnes-sur-Mer]] in France, together with a grant that allowed him to visit artists’ studios. After his success in France several Czech galleries bought his paintings.<ref>Helena Musilová (ed.), Theodor Pištěk, 2013, pp. 92, 95</ref> In the 1980s he worked as a [[costume designer]] for [[Miloš Forman]], winning an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] for [[Amadeus (film)|Amadeus]] (1984), for which he was also nominated for a [[British Academy Film Awards|British Academy Film Award]]. For his work on Forman’s next film, [[Valmont (film)|Valmont]] (1989), he was nominated for the same two awards, and he won a [[César Award]] from the [[Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma]]. In the [[United States]] he accepted an invitation to become a member of the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]. 

In 1987 he exhibited artworks and costume designs at the [[Henry Art Gallery]] in [[Seattle]] and the [[Lincoln Center]] in [[New York City|New York]], as well as [[Indianapolis]] and [[Sydney]] in Australia. Pištěk’s exhibition in Seattle was curated by [[Meda Mládková]] and introduced by [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]].

In 1990 Theodor Pištěk became the chairman of [[Václav Havel]]´s ''[[Prague Castle]]’s arts council'' and was commissioned to design new uniforms for the [[Prague Castle Guard]]. He initiated the [[Jindřich Chalupecký Award]] for young artists, becoming one of its founders (alongside [[Václav Havel]] and [[Jiří Kolář]]).<ref>Helena Musilová (ed.), Theodor Pištěk, 2013, pp. 96-97</ref>

In 1996 Pištěk had to vacate his studio, and he moved from Prague to [[Mukařov (Prague-East District)|Mukařov]], where he had earlier designed and built a house. In 2000 President [[Václav Havel]] awarded him a [[Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)|First Grade Medal of Merit]], for his achievements in art. In 2004 the Czech Film and Television Academy gave him the [[Czech Lion Award]] for Unique Contribution to Czech Film. At the 2013 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival he received a [[Crystal Globe (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)|Crystal Globe]] for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema.<ref>[https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/kultura/1088369-vytvarnik-amadea-pistek-prevzal-kristalovy-globus-od-salieriho Výtvarník Amadea Pištěk převzal Křišťálový glóbus, Czech TV, 4. 7. 2013]</ref> In 2012–2013 he had a major retrospective at the National Gallery in Prague.<ref>Martin Dostál, in: Helena Musilová (ed.), 2013, pp. 8-20</ref> and in 2019/2020 another retrospective in the Brno House of Arts.<ref>[http://www.dum-umeni.cz/en/vystavy/detail/id/501 The Brno House of Arts: Theodor Pištěk - ANGELUS 25.9. – 12.1.2020]</ref>

== Work ==
=== Paintings, reliefs, installations ===
Theodor Pištěk mastered classic realistic oil painting while studying under then prominent portrait painter professor Vratislav Nechleba. For his graduation painting, Boxer, his studies were extended to include an honours year. At the end of the 1950s he worked on portrait painting, but surprisingly his subsequent paintings did not draw on his training at the Academy, instead anticipating a Constructivist element in his art, to which he would periodically return in the latter half of the 1960s and the early 70s, and after 1990 in his three-dimensional installations. In 1960–1961 he created geometrical relief compositions in plaster as positive and negative diptychs (''In and Out'', 1960; ''Reverse'', 1961).

In the early 1960s he was in close contact with Zbyněk Sekal, whose studio was next door. They influenced one another when creating material paintings, and their work was based on similar feelings about life. It was at this time that Pištěk made a series of relief assemblages from automobile components (''Synagogue'', 1962; ''Crucifixion'', 1963) and [[Art Informel]] reliefs from dismantled car radiators (''Notes from a Missing Person'', 1963; ''Execution'', 1964). He also made his first three-dimensional installation, ''The Ten Commandments'' (1964).

As a counterpart to his material relief paintings, Theodor Pištěk painted airy black and white compositions in ink and nitrocellulose lacquer that combined simple geometrical forms with structures he had observed in the organic world. They are also his response to post-surrealist symbolism, something a fellow student from the Academy, Jaroslav Vožniak, was working on at this time. The subjects of these paintings were sometimes light-hearted (''How to Play Ball'', 1966) and sometimes fraught (''How to Escape'', 1965; ''Trap'', 1965; ''Unsuccessful Attempt'', 1966).
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5">
File:01. Theodor Pištěk, Opak, 1961.jpg|''Reverse'', 1961
File:03. Theodor Pištěk, Leť motýlku leť (1962), Galerie Zlatá Husa.jpg|''Fly '', 1962, Zlatá Husa Gallery
File:Theodor Pištěk, Synagoga (1962), Galerie Zlatá husa.jpg|''Synagogue'', 1962, Zlatá Husa Gallery
File:04. Theodor Pištěk, Zápisky zmizelého, 1963.jpg|''Notes from a Missing Person'', 1963
File:Theodor Pištěk, Nezdařený pokus 2 (1966).jpg|''Unsuccessful Attempt 2'', 1966
</gallery>
Following the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]] in 1968, Pištěk’s drawings resembled targets with bullet holes, and their composition was accented by the use of monochromatic blocks of colour (''August Picture I–III'', 1968–1969). His series of drawings in ink and nitrocellulose lacquer continued until the beginning of the 1970s (''View Inside'', 1970; ''Half-Life'', 1970) and was followed by coloured compositions of geometrical forms (''Reflection'', 1971) and small-format oil paintings in which the geometrical order of blocks of colour was broken by small irregularities (''Fall'', 1973; ''House'', 1973). He returned to monochrome paintings in ink and nitrocellulose lacquer in the early 1980s in compositions of artificial architecture (''Where I Will Live Next'', 1982), which later became three-dimensional labyrinths (''City'', 1997).
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5">
File:05. Theodor Pištěk, Srpnový obrázek I, 1968.jpg|''August Picture I'', 1968
File:06. Theodor Pištěk, Srpnový obrázek II, 1968.jpg|''August Picture II'', 1968
File:Theodor Pištěk, Srpnový obrázek 3 (1969).jpg|''August Picture III'' (1969)
File:Theodor Pištěk, Srpnový obrázek 4 (1969).jpg|''August Picture IV'' (1969)
File:Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (7).jpg|''Where I Will Live Next'', House of Art, Brno, 2019 
</gallery>
At the height of communist repression during the [[Normalization (Czechoslovakia)|normalization era]], Pištěk’s work featured wrapped figures and objects that served as abstract [[Existentialism|existential symbols]]. Fingers emerging from the wrappings indicate that these are not statues inside (''Family Portrait'', 1976; ''The Nude Maja'', 1980). The motif of a wrapped head (''Self-Portrait by the Window I-II'', 1981) is in itself terrifying, and the emptiness or ornateness of the background makes this symbol of cruelty even more disturbing.<ref>Jan Kříž, in: Jiří Šetlík, Jana Brabcová (eds.), 2007, p. 104</ref> Also from this time is a cycle of illusionistic paintings in which crumpled fabric or paper bound with twine veils a hidden reality that can be glimpsed in places where the fabric or paper has been ripped. Usually the opening reveals an endless blue sky with little clouds, but the painting ''Czech Horizon'' (1979) shows only black earth under a dark sky. In the triptych ''Farewell to Youth'' (1981) Theodor Pištěk symbolically bid his racing career goodbye.
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5">
File:Theodor Pištěk, Rodinný portrét (1976) Museum Kampa.jpg|''Family Portrait'', 1976, [[Museum Kampa]]
File:Theodor Pištěk, Autoportrét u okna 1 (1981).jpg|''Self-Portrait by the Window I'', 1981
File:10. Theodor Pištěk, Autoportrét u okna II, 1981.jpg|''Self-Portrait by the Window II'', 1981
File:09. Theodor Pištěk, Český horizont, 1979.jpg|''Czech Horizon'', 1979
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (3), 2012.jpg|''Farewell to Youth'', 1981, installation, [[National Gallery in Prague]]
</gallery>
Pištěk applied his mastery of [[trompe-l’œil]] to a series of paintings of gleaming automobile and motorcycle parts (''Angelus'', 1978; ''Gold Fever'', 1978) or the impersonal objects that surround us (''Tonca Still Life'', 1981; ''Homage to Papin'', 1981). Photography provided inspiration.<ref>Helena Musilová (ed.), Theodor Pištěk, 2012, p. 92</ref> This faithful hyperrealist depicting of the surface of things was not just an aesthetic phenomenon, but also a way for Pištěk to measure himself against other painters. Ultimately he came to resist his categorisation as a [[Photorealism|photorealist]] painter, instead describing his program as “Neo-Romanticism”. He did not want viewers to see only verism, illusion and perfection in his work, but to offset the modern cult of ugliness and hopelessness with a “new professionalism” that sought through flawless painting to evoke an atmosphere or recall a moment or story from the past that we had begun to doubt ever really happened.<ref>Jiří Šetlík, Jana Brabcová (ed.), Theodor Pištěk, 2007, p. 7</ref>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5">
File:Theodor Pištěk, Angelus (1978).jpg|''Angelus'', 1978
File:Theodor Pištěk, Vášeň 2 (1978).jpg|''Passion 2'', 1978
File:Theodor Pištěk, Zátiší Tonca (1981) GMU Hradec Králové.jpg|''Tonca Still Life'', 1981, GMA Hradec Králové
File:Theodor Pištěk, Pocta Papinovi (1981), GU Karlovy Vary.jpg|''Homage to Papin'', 1981, GA Karlovy Vary
File:Theodor Pištěk, Zátiší s lampami (1987).jpg|''Still Life with Lamps'', 1987
</gallery>
Pištěk’s paintings from this period guide the viewer from sensory enchantment to seeking the mystery behind a painting. They were influenced by the film world in which he operated, and like film backdrops they created fictitious settings and brought new impulses into Czech modern art. Various disconnected narratives intersect (''The Price of Elegance'', 1973–1974; ''Landscape with a Honda'', 1977), and the illusion of reality is constantly undermined by the painter’s interventions. The minutely detailed and technically flawless illusionistic painting served to deceive the viewer’s senses. A seemingly torn canvas is in fact intact (''Ecce Homo'', 1983); a collage with photographs glued on and scraps of paper held by drawing pins is only a fiction in a painting (''Portrait of a Friend'', 1976; ''Midget'', 1977; ''D Day, H Hour'', 1980). Paintings include references to other artists ([[Salvador Dalí|Dalí]] in ''Self-Portrait''; [[Jean-François Millet|Millet]] in ''Angelus'') and entirely personal messages such as digital numerals showing Pištěk’s date of birth in an apparently torn canvas he created for his fiftieth birthday (''From My Life'', 1982).<ref>Doubravová P, 2012, p. 22</ref>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5">
File:Theodor Pištěk, Velká krajina (1976), AJG Hluboká.jpg|''Big Landscape'', 1976, AJG Hluboká
File:Theodor Pištěk, Portrét přítele (1976), AJG Hluboká.jpg|''Portrait of a Friend'', 1976, AJG Hluboká
File:Theodor Pištěk, Krajina s Hondou (1977), AJG Hluboká.jpg|''Landscape with a Honda'', 1977, AJG Hluboká
File:Theodor Pištěk, Ze života (1977).jpg|''From Life'', 1977
File:07. Theodor Pištěk, Midget, 1977.jpg|''Midget'', 1977
</gallery>
Pištěk has repeatedly returned to Biblical themes. His Joseph wears overalls and is depicted sitting on a wooden plank as he rolls a cigarette. This scene of Joseph in his carpentry workshop is rendered as a torn poster that seems to have been tacked to a second picture plane showing a sports car; several nails have fallen out of the poster. The corner of the picture of the car has also been ripped off to reveal the background: a blue sky with a little cloud (''Joseph N'', 1978). ''Ecce Homo'' (1983) shows a racing driver in a [[Balaclava (clothing)|balaclava]] as a modern paraphrasing of the [[Man of Sorrows]]. The cross has been replaced with an exploded view of an engine in the background, Christ’s wounds are symbolised by illusionistic cuts painted over the driver’s hands, and the canvas looks as if it has been slashed in reference to the scourging of Christ. ''The Last Supper'' (1983) cycle of paintings, a number of variations on a vacant table in front of a window with a view of an empty landscape, presents another of Pištěk’s themes: a dead, empty space devoid of people, which creates tension by referring to a familiar narrative to which nothing more can be added.<ref>Jiří Šetlík, in: Jiří Šetlík, Jana Brabcová (eds.), 2007, p. 332</ref>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5">
File:Theodor Pištěk, Josef N., (1978).jpg|''Josef N.'', 1978
File:Theodor Pištěk, Ecce Homo, 1983.jpg|''Ecce Homo'', 1983
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (10), 2012.jpg|''The Last Supper'', installation at the [[National Gallery in Prague]], 2012
File:Theodor Pištěk, Tichá krajina (1984), Národní galerie v Praze.jpg|''Silent Landscape'', 1984, [[National Gallery in Prague]]
File:Theodor Pištěk, Adieu, Guy Moll (1992-2017).jpg|''Adieu, Guy Moll'' (1992-2017)
</gallery>

Since the turn of the 1980s and 90s Pištěk’s paintings have included architecture that recalls film sets (''Variations on a Given Theme 1–3'', 1989). In the mid-90s Theodor Pištěk returned to geometrical abstraction in his paintings of empty and stylised architecture, where he worked with various kinds of false perspectives and lighting (''Variations 1–6'', 1995–1996; ''Building 1–2'', 1995; ''Down 1–2'', 1996; ''Column'', 1997). The illusion produced in two dimensions is both magnified and contradicted by the impression of a tangible mass emerging from the picture plane and simultaneously guided along lines into the depth of the painting, where it surprisingly loses its shadow and the concrete becomes abstract.<ref><ref>Jiří Šetlík, 1995, pp. 2-3</ref></ref> “My work moves in spirals, always beginning with the details and gradually freeing itself from them. The image becomes empty and is simplified to the minimum.”<ref>[http://www.czsk.net/svet/clanky/osobnosti/pistek.html Interview with Theodor Pištěk (2003)]</ref> 
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5">
File:Theodor Pištěk, Večírek u Plečnika (1992-1993).jpg|''Party with Plečnik'', 1992-1993
File:Theodor Pištěk, Variace č. 1 (1995).jpg|''Variation No. 1'', 1995
File:Theodor Pištěk, Stavba č. 1 (1995).jpg|''Construction No. 1'', 1995
File:Theodor Pištěk, Pro Karolinku (1997-2019).jpg|''For Little Caroline'', 1997-2019
</gallery>
Pištěk’s contemplative ''Conversations with Hawking'' (2005–2019) are fragile geometrical constructions that delineate areas of black space interwoven with spot heights and marks indicating the motion of heavenly bodies.<ref>Martin Dostál, in: Helena Musilová (ed.), 2012, p. 20</ref>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5">
File:Theodor Pištěk, Rozmluva s Hawkingem 1b (2005-2006).jpg|''Conversations with Hawking 1b'', 2005-2006
File:Theodor Pištěk, Rozmluva s Hawkingem (2012).jpg|''Conversations with Hawking'', 2012
File:Theodor Pištěk, Rozmluva s Hawkingem (2017) II.jpg|''Conversations with Hawking II'', 2017
File:Theodor Pištěk, Rozmluva s Hawkingem (2018).jpg|''Conversations with Hawking'', 2018
File:Theodor Pištěk, Rozmluva s Hawkingem (2019) III.jpg|''Conversations with Hawking III'', 2019
</gallery>
Besides his film work, for which Theodor Pištěk has received the highest honours, his painting is also highly valued. In 2013 his painting ''A Visit to the Harrachs'' (1979) was auctioned for CZK 3,240,000, while in 2016 ''Seagull Flying into a Dream'' (1984) was auctioned for CZK 2,900,000. His painting ''Adieu, Guy Moll'' (1992-2017) became the most expensive artwork by a living Czech artist ever sold at auction (CZK 21,200,000).<ref>[https://www.novinky.cz/kultura/clanek/pistekuv-obraz-alfy-romeo-se-vydrazil-za-rekordnich-212-milionu-korun-40343664 Pištěkův obraz Alfy Romeo se vydražil za rekordních 21,2 milionu korun, Novinky.cz, 29.11.2020]</ref> 
=== Objects ===
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5">
File:14. Theodor Pištěk, Bart Simpson, 2003.jpg|''Bart Simpson'', 2003
File:Theodor Pištěk, Červená hlava (2019).jpg|''Red Head'', 2019
File:Theodor Pištěk, Mínotaurus (2019).jpg|''Mínotaurus'', 2019
</gallery>

=== Conceptual installations ===
Pištěk’s conceptual installation of sacred objects in the former riding school in Hluboká nad Vltavou had a dramatic gradation and scope, and within the context of postmodern scepticism it offered an updating of the psychological values of collectively valid myths.<ref>Jan Kříž, in: Jiří Šetlík, Jana Brabcová (eds.), 2007, p. 305</ref> On an altar in the foreground, which he titled ''Homage to Böcklin’s “Centaur Watching Fish”'',<ref>Fhttps://www.arnoldbocklin.org/Centaur-Watching-Fish-1878.html Arnold Böcklin: “Centaur Watching Fish”]</ref> he placed the scoop of an excavator arching over a fish in a glass sphere. At the head of the riding school he installed an altar painting with an illusionistic landscape in the Baroque style, to which he added brightly coloured geometrical forms that quoted the American postmodernist [[Frank Stella]]. In front of this painting was a pyramid with a pile of refuse that was titled ''Reliquary''. The side altars, hidden in a labyrinth, depicted the [[Crucifixion]] as the hanging chassis of a racing car and the [[Visitation (Christianity)|Visitation]] made of an old petrol pump, with car doors as the angel’s wings. According to Jiří Šetlík, Pištěk’s subjective interpretation of our sick world unmasks our faith in consumerist idols.<ref>Jiří Šetlík, in: Jiří Šetlík, Jana Brabcová (eds.), 2007, pp. 223-225</ref>

Pištěk’s three-dimensional objects for his exhibition at the Prague City Gallery (1999) worked with the contrast between image and sound. ''Garden'' was a pavilion made of massive children’s building blocks surrounded by a forest of hanging poles protecting the pavilion’s privacy, with a soundtrack of whispered conversations too quiet to be heard. Next to ''Garden'' was ''Forest'', a glass pyramid filled with fragments of wood and rubbish from fly tipping, together with romantic forest still lifes and a soundtrack of chainsaws and falling trees.<ref> Jiří Šetlík, in: Jiří Šetlík, Jana Brabcová (eds.), 2007, p. 331, photo pp. 299-302, 307-315</ref> Other objects relate to Pištěk’s film work and his racing career. At the entrance to his retrospective exhibition at the [[National Gallery in Prague]] he installed his labyrinthine ''City'' and behind it a large glass box with a pile of film costumes, while in the middle of the exhibition space was a racing car. His conceptual diorama ''The End of the Forest'' was an artificial forest made of suspended poles through which visitors could look at a painted landscape covering the entire wall (Trade Fair Palace, [[National Gallery in Prague]], 2012). This stepping out of the picture plane into the third dimension is an agenda that Pištěk had earlier described in the introduction to a catalogue as “Neo-Romanticism”.<ref>''I love space – the endless sky, the soothing clouds and the horizon, inviting us to go beyond. This is why I am no longer satisfied with illusion and have stepped out from the picture plane.'' Theodor Pištěk (1984), in: Jiří Šetlík, Jana Brabcová (eds.), 2007, p. 7</ref>
<gallery>
File:11. Theodor Pištěk, Kentaur pozorující rybku, instalace AJG Hluboká, 1993.jpg|''[[Centaurus (Greek mythology)|Centaurus]] Watching the Fish'', AJG Hluboká, 1993
File:12. Theodor Pištěk, Schránka na ostatky, instalace AJG Hluboká, 1993.jpg|''Reliquary'', AJG Hluboká, 1993
File:13. Theodor Pištěk, Zahrada, instalace MK Praha, 1999.jpg|''Garden'', Prague City Gallery, 1999
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (1), 2012.jpg|[[National Gallery in Prague]], 2012
File:16. Theodor Pištěk, Konec lesa, 2012.jpg|''The End of Forest'', [[National Gallery in Prague]] 2012
File:15a. Theodor Pištěk, labyrint Město, instalace NG Praha, 2012.jpg|''City Labyrinth'', [[National Gallery in Prague]], 2012
File:17. Theodor Pištěk, filmové kostýmy, 2013.jpg|''Film costumes'', [[National Gallery in Prague]], 2012
</gallery>
=== Costumes and set design (selection) ===
* 1959 [[The White Dove (1960 film)|The White Dove]] (costumes, sets), directed by [[František Vláčil]]
* 1967 [[Markéta Lazarová]] (costumes), directed by [[František Vláčil]]
* 1967 [[The Valley of the Bees]] (costumes), directed by [[František Vláčil]]
* 1982–1984 [[Amadeus (film)|Amadeus]], directed by [[Miloš Forman]]
* 1989 [[Valmont (film)|Valmont]], directed by [[Miloš Forman]]
* 1990 uniforms, banners and insignia for the [[Prague Castle Guard]]
* 1996 [[The People vs. Larry Flynt]], directed by [[Miloš Forman]]
* Other films: Theodor Pištěk has worked on 111 films with many Czech and Slovak directors ([[Oldřich Lipský]], [[Jiří Menzel]], [[Jiří Krejčík]], [[Juraj Herz]]), and with directors from other countries too ([[Janusz Majewski (director)|Janusz Majewski]], [[Bob Hoskins]], [[Jerzy Skolimowski]]).[23]
* Theatre: Miss Julie (1972), Divadlo na Zábradlí, directed by [[Jiří Krejčík]]; [[The Queen of Spades]] (1972), Smetanovo divadlo; [[Don Giovanni]] (2006), National Theatre in Prague
* Television serials: Arabela (1979), Mr Tau (1980), The Visitors (1982), Dune (1998), Children of Dune (2000)
* Musicals (directed by Jozef Bednárik): Dracula (1994), Rusalka (1998), The Count of Monte Christo (1999)
=== Collections ===
* [[National Gallery in Prague]]
* [[Moravian Gallery in Brno]]
* [[Museum Kampa]]
* Regional galleries in the Czech Republic
* Galleria Arturo Schwarz, Milano
* Galerie Schüppenhauer, Cologne
* Galerie Volkmann, Münster
* Private collections home and abroad
=== Important exhibitions ===
* '''2012/2013 ''Theodor Pištěk: Ecce Homo'', [[National Gallery in Prague]]'''
<gallery>
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (4), 2012.jpg
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (8), 2012.jpg
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (7), 2012.jpg
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (2), 2012.jpg
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (9), 2012.jpg
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (6), 2012.jpg
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (5), 2012.jpg
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (3), 2012.jpg
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (13), 2012.jpg
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (11), 2012.jpg
File:Theodor Pištěk, instalace NG Praha (14), 2012.jpg
</gallery>
* '''2019/2020 Theodor Pištěk: Angelus, Dům umění města Brna'''
<gallery>
File:Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (1).jpg|Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (1)
File:Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (2).jpg|Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (2)
File:Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (3).jpg|Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (3)
File:Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (4).jpg|Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (4)
File:Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (5).jpg|Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (5)
File:Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (6).jpg|Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (6)
File:Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (8).jpg|Theodor Pištěk, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (8)
File:Theodor Pištěk, Angelus (2019).jpg|Theodor Pištěk,''Bílá 2'', expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019
File:Theodor Pištěk, Labyrint, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (10).jpg|Theodor Pištěk, ''Labyrint'', expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019
File:Theodor Pištěk, Pyramida, expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019 (9).jpg|Theodor Pištěk,''Pyramida'', expozice v Domě umění města Brna, 2019
</gallery>

== References ==
{{reflist}}
== Sources ==
=== Monographs ===
* Helena Musilová (ed.), Theodor Pištěk: Ecce homo, 168 s., Národní galerie v Praze 2012, {{ISBN|978-80-7035-508-4}}
* Jiří Šetlík, Jana Brabcová (ed.), Theodor Pištěk, 388 s., Galerie Pecka Praha 2007, {{ISBN|978-80-904008-0-1}}
* Jiří Šetlík, Theodor Pištěk, 24 s., Galerie hlavního města Prahy 1999, {{ISBN|80-7010-054-0}}
* Jindřich Chalupecký a kol., Theodor Pištěk, 140 s., Alšova jihočeská galerie v Hluboké nad Vltavou, Galerie hlavního města Prahy 1993
* Martin Dostál (ed.), Theodor Pištěk - Angelus, 168 s., Dům umění města Brna, KANT 2019, {{ISBN|978-80-7437-297-1}}
=== Bachelor´s thesis ===
* Pavlína Doubravová, Hyperrealistické tendence v tvorbě Theodora Pištěka, bakalářská práce, FF a UDU JČU v Českých Budějovicích, 2012 [https://theses.cz/id/3qk37j/BP2012_DoubravovaPavlina.txt On line]
=== Catalogues ===
* ''Theodor Pištěk'', 1978, Macourek Miloš, kat. 12 s., SČVU Praha
* ''Theodor Pištěk: Obrazy, kresby, film'', 1982, Kotalík Jiří Tomáš, kat. 20 s., SČVU Praha
* ''Theodor Pištěk'', 1984, Neumann Ivan, kat. 32 s., Galerie umění Karlovy Vary
* ''Theodor Pištěk: Obrazy'', 1988, Janoušek Ivo, kat. 16 s., Ústřední kulturní dům železničářů, Praha
* ''Theodor Pištěk: Hluboká 93 - 94'', 1995, Šetlík Jiří, kat. 48 s., AJG Hluboká nad Vltavou
* ''Theodor Pištěk'', 2006, Machalický Jiří, kat. 10 s., Galerie Montanelli Praha
* ''3x Theodor Pištěk'', 2007, Machalický Jiří, Mládková Meda, kat. 20 s., Museum Kampa – Nadace Jana a Medy Mládkových, Praha
* ''Šedesátá'', ed. Magdalena Juříková, Galerie Zlatá husa, Praha 2004, {{ISBN|80-239-3406-6}}, s. 308-313
=== Other (selection) ===
* Fascinace skutečností - hyperrealismus v české malbě / Fascination with relity - Hyperrealism in Czech painting, Muzeum umění Olomouc 2017, {{ISBN|9788088103219}}
* Příliš mnoho zubů / Too Many Teeth, Musilová Helena (ed.), kat. 147 s., Retro Gallery Praha, Praha 2017, {{ISBN|978-80-905877-8-6}}
* Postava k otvírání / The figure examined, Nováčková Zuzana, Štefančíková Alica, Svoboda Petr, kat. 132 s., Galerie Benedikta Rejta, Louny, Galerie výtvarného umění v Mostě, 2016
* Před obrazem, Dospěl Milan a kol., kat. 158 s., Galerie Kodl, Praha 2015, {{ISBN|978-80-200-2542-5}}
* Stavy mysli: Za obrazem / States of Mind: Beyond the Soubor: Stálá expozice GASK, David Bartoň a kol., kat. 208 s., Galerie Středočeského kraje (GASK), Kutná Hora 2014, {{ISBN|978-80-7056-185-0}}
* České moderní a současné umění 1890 – 2010: 2. díl, Dolanská Karolína a kol., kat. 189 s., Národní galerie v Praze 2010, {{ISBN|978-80-7035-447-6}}
* Šedesátá / The sixties ze sbírky Galerie Zlatá husa, Juříková Magdalena, Železný Vladimír, kat. 414 s., Galerie Zlatá husa, Praha 2004, {{ISBN|80-239-3406-6}}
* Hyperrealismus, Beran Zdeněk, Vítková Martina, kat. 31 s., Západočeská galerie v Plzni 2002, {{ISBN|80-85025-29-9}}
* Současná minulost: Česká postmoderní moderna 1960–2000, Tetiva Vlastimil, kat. 176 s., Alšova jihočeská galerie v Hluboké nad Vltavou 2000, {{ISBN|80-85857-37-5}}
* Umění zrychleného času: Česká výtvarná scéna 1958-1968, Alena Potůčková (ed.), kat. 147 s., České muzeum výtvarných umění, Praha 1999
* Umění zastaveného času / Art when time stood still: Česká výtvarná scéna 1969-1985, Alena Potůčková (ed.), kat. 268 s., České muzeum výtvarných umění, Praha 1996
* Skutečnost a iluze: Tendence českého radikálního realismu, Tetiva Vlastimil, 169 s., Alšova jihočeská galerie v Hluboké nad Vltavou 1993
* Forum '88, Hlaváček Josef, Kříž Jan, Nešlehová Mahulena, Petrová Eva, Šetlík Jiří, Wittlich Petr, kat. 96 s., neoficiální výstava v Pražské tržnici 1988
* Netvořice ´81, Hlaváček Josef, Kříž Jan, Šetlík Jiří, katalog neoficiální výstavní akce u Bedřich Dlouhého v Netvořicích 1981
* Czech stage costumes / Le costume tchèque de théâtre, Marešová Šimáčková Sylva, Bubeník Květoslav, Vejražka Vítězslav, Divadelní ústav, Praha 1972

== External links ==
{{commonscat}}
* [https://www.hyperrealism.eu/ World Base of Hyperrealism]
* [https://en.isabart.org/person/1095 Information system abART: Theodor Pištěk]
* [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0685551/ Internet Movie Database: Theodor Pištěk]
* [https://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/cs/profil/theodor-pistek-1598564 National Theatre Prague: Theodor Pištěk]
* [https://www.csfd.cz/tvurce/32451-theodor-pistek-ml/zajimavosti/ Czech-Slovac Film Database: Theodor Pištěk]
* [https://hledani.rozhlas.cz/iradio/?query=Theodor+Pi%C5%A1t%C4%9Bk&reader=&porad%5B%5D= Theodor Pistek´s interviews for Czech Radio]


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