Milan Knížák
| Milan Knížák | |
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Photo from one the contemporary Milan Knizak's protests against location and politicization of new National Library in Prague.
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| Born |
19 April 1940 Plzeň, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia |
| Nationality | Czech |
| Education | Academy of Fine Arts, Prague |
| Known for | Performances, sculpture, visual art, aesthetics, art philosophy |
| Awards | Recipient of the Medal of Merit Czech Republic – 28 October 2010 |
Milan Knížák (Czech: [ˈmɪlan ˈkɲiːʒaːk]; born 19 April 1940) is a Czech performance artist, sculptor, musician, installation artist, dissident, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.
Milan Knizak is the son of the painter, musician and teacher of mathematics Karel Knížák from Doubravka u Plzně, nowadays part of the town Plzeň, and Julia Knížáková. The parents taught in Jarov (1932–1934) and later in Blovice close to Pilsen. Milan Knížák was born in Plzeň on 19 April 1940. In 1945, after the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia the family moved to the Mariánské Lázně, a spa town in the former Sudetenland, close to the German border. There, his father played violin in a spa orchestra and Milan attended primary school, where he was interested in music and literature. He also took piano, trumpet and guitar lessons.
He started painting at fourteen. He attended secondary/high- school (Gymnasium in Planá u Mariánských Lázní) and graduated in 1957. One of his schoolmate was gallery gangster MUDr. Pavel Náprava (born 1938) known in the 1960s like a "thief with the academic title" On several occasions young Milan visited the studio of the unofficial painter and war veteran Vladimír Modrý (1907–1976). Later he wrote /in his diaries from US/ about movie Fantastic voyage that its scenes reminded him the paintings by Vladimir Modrý. In one interview Milan Knížák said about this period:
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