Magician with Cards

František Tichý’s etching shows a motif that the artist first treated in 1932. At the time, he painted Magician with Cards, also known as The While Top Hat. Like the print, the canvas depicts a head of a conjurer in a hat, with cards flying about. This act is one of the supreme variety show numbers requiring a higher dose of concentration and virtuosity. Tichý demanded the same of artistic creativity. The fact that the performances of circus artists and other figures (for example, of Paganini) became for Tichý a metaphor of his own creative pursuits enhances the self-stylization aspect. The face that bears Tichý’s own features is hidden in the shade and placed in contrast with the white hat. An ironic grimace that reflects the complexity of Tichý’s contradictory nature is the principal means of expression of the magician’s mask-like face.