Colorless glass; cast, engraved.

"Our designs are always based on life studies. Even if the design is abstract, we believe that everything comes from life, and so the proportions are always human." –Jiří Harcuba. Jiří Harcuba specializes in portraiture. A renowned engraver and teacher, he uses sculptural and optical effects to create the facial features of his subjects. In this work, Václav Havel, the prominent Czech playwright, poet, and political dissident, is portrayed with minimal, spare cuts. An inspiring leader, he is a powerful symbol of political and personal freedom. After the fall of communism in 1989, Havel was president of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992) and then the Czech Republic (1993–2003) during its important first decade of independence.