Born 1904 CZECH REPUBLIC. Died 1990 close to Litomysl - CZECH REPUBLIC.
Miloslava Ratzingerová finished only elementary school. After her marriage to to an Austrian railway worker she became a homemaker. Although deeply influenced by the widespread spiritualism of the period, she does not seem to have participated in group séances. Her period of artistic activity was very short and is restricted only to the twenties. The first impetus to create a piece of art was an experience she made as a fifteen-year old. During a visit of Prague, a woman approached her on the street and said : “I’m passing the White Book to you.” An enigmatic announcement, even more so because nothing concrete was given to her. Six months later, she felt the inner urge to start drawing. At the same time, she experienced what could be qualified as hallucinations : she heard bees and trees talk. She worried that she might be mentally ill and visited a psychiatrist, who assured her that her state was not an illness but a gift she was supposed to accept. He encouraged her to listen to her inner voice and let it guide her, to note down and draw everything she was told. There remain only several unfinished works from this period and about forty pencil drawings, which mostly represent female effigies, often her mother at different points in her life. Sometimes there are historical figures (e.g., Marie Antoinette). Their faces are surrounded by a thicket of vegetal motifs with hidden ghostly figures. Miloslava Ratzingerová had the ability to predict future and - were we to believe her great-nephew - she also predicted the fall of communism and the first Czech post-communist president. She used her gift frequently to help other people, who came to visit her from the entire country. Apart from her drawings, she wrote poetry and short philosophical essays of remarkable literary quality.