Alexander Sádlo (Alex) 1927-2021, was an artist who was born in the village of Tulčík, in rural Czechoslovakia. He went on to devote his life to his art; starting in Czech, then in Australia, and then England. Alex’s mother was from a nearby village, but his father was Czech – born in a village near Plzen, Western Bohemia. They had met when she was a nurse in WW1, and he was a patient. But with WW2 brewing, the family had to leave Tulčík suddenly, and so they settled in Pilsen. Alex was the youngest of three brothers, and he later became celebrated for both his vibrant semi-abstract works and his pioneering of new methods to create his artwork using many types of materials.
Alex later recalled his childhood as idyllic, filled with the freedom to wander the forests and swim in local streams. Alex’s early fascination with art was sparked by the religious art in his village church, imagery that would continue to shape his creative vision throughout his life. During the war years in Pilsen, Alex’s talent for painting at school secured an apprenticeship in theatre set design and painting at the DJKT theatre in Plzeň, which helped him earn admission to the Prague School of Graphic Art. where he studied printing techniques, life drawing, and art history. Sometimes he had to serve in the Skoda Factory in Plzen, making munitions for the occupying Nazi regime. After the war however, Alex’s anti-communist views led to his expulsion from the art school, preventing him from completing his degree. A warning from a fellow student, that his name was on a Communist party detention list, compelled Alex to leave his family and escape under gunfire across the Czechoslovakian border to Austria, where he lived in a refugee camp for a year. He was eventually accepted as a post-war migrant by Australia.
Settling in Adelaide in 1950, Alex was tied to a job as a cleaner of the refugee camp next to the railway station. With limited means, he became an early pioneer in the artworld, recycling objects, collecting and repurposing materials that others had discarded. He also developed a reputation as a great hairdresser for his fellow camp residents. Out of this resourcefulness emerged the large-scale semi-abstract figurative and landscape paintings that would define his reputation in later life. Always fascinated by different materials, he started to create jewellery, crafted from enamel on copper, and later in silver and gold, which he always conceptualised as ‘art to wear’. In Australia, Alex developed a deep admiration for the original Aboriginal art (before it became influenced by other cultures), which left a lasting impression on his style. He experimented with stripes to create three-dimensional effects, fusing bold colour schemes with abstract forms. In Adelaide Alex lived simply, for twenty years, creating all his various works in a one-room rented accommodation, and backyard shed.
A job in an Italian ceramics factory (the only paid employment Alex ever had) further expanded his skillset, learning the art of glazing, and firing. He would have been comfortable with painting madonnas and other religious statures for churches, due to his early days as an alter boy in an almost orthodox church in Slovakia, filled with icons. Over the course of his career, Alex proved exceptionally versatile, working in oils, pastels, collage, vitreous enamel, carved stones and opals, ceramics, as well as gold and silver. All of his skills were self-taught; he was an amazing autodidact. He often submitted his paintings to group shows and competitions, where he often was runner up. He never sought an exhibition of his own, but eventually he was invited by a gallery. His first solo painting exhibition in 1968 was a turning point, with his paintings and jewellery receiving acclaim, while the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Australian National Gallery in Canberra purchased works.
In 1969, Alex met his future wife, Gaynor. Together they took the decision to move to England, to expand their possibilities in Europe. They established homes and workshops in various rented places in Berkshire, while Gaynor worked in her profession of occupational therapy, taking time out to successfully sell Alex’s jewellery in London craft shops. In 1982 they had an opportunity to purchase a small house Slough, Berkshire, where for the first time at age 51, Alex had space for separate workshops for his jewellery, enamels, paintings and ceramics. They regularly visited his families in Plzen and Australia. Alex continued to produce jewellery, ceramics, and paintings that were exhibited in various galleries in France, Japan, and England. His large-scale semi-abstract oil works often drew inspiration from figurative and musical themes, while his portraiture revealed a more realistic and highly skilled dimension of his artistry. In 2006, he was invited to hold a small exhibition of his work in Plzen, to the joy of his family there. He also held substantial solo shows in London, Oxford and in particular, Farnham, at Life the Gallery.
In his final years, Alex and Gaynor lived in Eastbourne, East Sussex where Gaynor worked as a professor of occupational science. In 2015 she also was awarded a Visiting Professorship at Charles University, Prague. Alex continued to work on a few pieces, until declining health prevented him. He died at Eastbourne in 2021, aged 94. A major project was launched in 2025 to bring Alex’s substantial body of art, home to Plzen.
Photo: John Hooper/Hoopix