Ludvík Cuba

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Ludvík Cuba around 1890

Ludvík Kuba (born April 16, 1863 in Poděbrady , † November 30, 1956 in Prague ) was a Czech folklorist , writer, impressionist painter and friend of the Sorbs .

Life

Ludvík Kuba was born the second of 13 children to master locksmith Ludvík Kuba and his wife Anna, née Mikovšková. After graduating from school he studied from 1877 to 1879 at the organ school in Prague with František Zdeněk Skuherský . During this time he was also a private student of the sculptor Bohuslav Schnirch. In 1879 he went to the teacher training institute in Kutná Hora to continue his education . After completing his training, Cuba first worked as a teacher. Already during this time he devoted himself to the collection of songs in Slavic countries, which he would continue for 45 years of his life. As early as 1885 he gave up the teaching profession and undertook extensive study trips to the Slavic countries, including theSlovakia (1885), Lusatia , Galicia (1886), Russia (1886–1887), Carniola (1888), Styria , Carinthia , Slovenia and Croatia (1889), Montenegro and Dalmatia (1890–1892), to Bosnia and Herzegovina (1893) and Bulgaria (1894). On his travels he studied the customs of the Slavic peoples, especially their songs, dances, musical instruments and costumes . He made himself familiar with the social realities of everyday life and documented them. He presented them artistically and scientifically as paintings , travelogues and sketches and documented them. The extensive Slovanstvo ve svých spěvech collection (in 15 volumes) testifies to his ethnographic work. Similar documentation was to be created about the costumes and customs, which was partially realized in the five books Čtení o Lužici , Čtení o Starém Srbsku , Čtení o Makedonii , Čtení o Dalmacii and Čtení o Bosně a Hercegovině .

As early as the early 1890s, Kuba took private lessons from Karel Liebschein and Maxmilián Pirner at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts. In the mid-1890s he turned increasingly to painting and in 1894 went to the private Académie Julian in Paris for two years . Here he mainly created paintings in the studio . Only occasionally did he turn to open-air painting , which was popular at the time , and created a few drawings in the Paris area. In 1896 he went to Munich to be trained at Anton Ažbe's private painting school . Here he joined a group of Russian students around Wassily Kandinsky , Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin , who had a decisive influence on his style. In Prague he exhibited his Munich paintings for the first time. In 1901 he moved to Vienna and was also economically successful thanks to numerous exhibitions. During this creative period he made numerous portraits that were easy to sell. In 1911 Ludvík Cuba returned to Bohemia . After the First World War , he returned to his work on researching Slavic songs and again undertook numerous study trips, during which he also made sketches and drawings.

With his books Cesty za slovanskou písní , Zaschlá paleta and Křižem kražem slovanským světem he left a rich legacy. His notes and sketches were an important historical document at a time when many customs, dances and songs were increasingly being forgotten.

After Cuba visited Lusatia for the first time in 1886, three more trips took him to the area in 1903, 1922 and 1923. He also used the opportunity to portray Sorbian personalities and with these paintings created the basis for a Sorbian gallery.

He was only recognized as a painter at a later stage, as his colleagues and the specialist press only perceived him as a painting musician. He was only officially recognized on the occasion of the exhibitions on his 70th birthday in 1933.

After 1932 he devoted himself mainly to painting and in this creative phase mainly occupied himself with the representation of still lifes and garden landscapes. A total of around 2200 oil paintings , drawings and watercolors have come down to us. In his paintings he primarily combines elements of impressionism and realism .

Ludvík Kuba stele in Poděbrady

On the occasion of his 150th birthday, the Prague National Gallery dedicated a retrospective to Ludvík Cuba in 2013/2014 on the Hradcany .

Memberships and honors

Cuba was a member or honorary member of various institutions and organizations in many Slavic countries and has received many awards and honors in the course of its life.

Works (selection)

  • Songs of Slovenia , 1892
  • Lužici: cesty z roků 1886–1923 , 1925
  • Russian Music and its Creators - Three Studies , 1927
  • Slavism in its songs , 15 volumes, 1884–1929
  • Čtení o starém srbsku - cesty a studie z roků 1890–1927 , 1932
  • Čtení o makedonii - cesty a studie z roků 1925–1927 , 1932
  • My China , 1946
  • Česká muzika na Domažlicku - tance a písně s průvodem dudáků a houdků , 1947
  • Czech bagpipe music , 1962

Paintings and drawings (selection)

  • Chapel near Poděbrady , no year
  • Portrait of a young girl in traditional Prague costume , undated
  • Suburb of Karlsbad , undated
  • Prague Panorama , undated
  • Nutjak Castle, (Dalmatia) , 1890
  • Girl with a stern look , 1890
  • Pine trees , 1894
  • Flood in Poděbrady , 1894
  • Tea , 1897
  • Smug , 1898
  • Promenade in the park , 1900
  • At the table , 1902
  • Jan Kublik in concert in the Smetana Hall , Prague, 1926
  • Peasant women from Mitrovice (Serbia) , 1927
  • Skopje , 1927
  • At the mill , 1929
  • Still life with garlic , 1933
  • A town in the valley , 1936
  • In the fields of Breznice , 1936
  • Self-portrait , 1940
  • Landscape near Benešov , 1940
  • Still life with fruits , 1940
  • Vase of paprika , 1942
  • Blooming garden , 1944
  • Still life with a jay and vegetables , 1948
  • Poppy Flowers , 1949

literature

  • Ines Keller: Sorbian costumes in the work of Ludvík Cuba. In: Niederlausitz Studies. Issue 32, Cottbus 2005, pp. 93-101 (with nine illustrations of his traditional costumes and further literature)
  • Jana Kubová: Ludvík Kuba - Život a dílo . Brno 2008, 88 pp. (In Czech)
  • M. Míčko, V. Nezval, J. Seifert, VV Štech: Ludvík Kuba maliř . Jaroslav Janeček, Prague, 1946 (in Czech)

Web links

Commons : Ludvík Kuba  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Ludvík Kuba in Zlatá Praha , year 8 / 1890-1891, No. 4, p. 44f
  2. radio.cz: The Last Czech Impressionist Ludvík Kuba , accessed on February 2, 2015
  3. musiklexikon.ac.at: Ludvík Kuba , accessed on February 2, 2015
  4. ^ Bernd Fäthke, In the Vorfeld des Expressionismus, Anton Ažbe and painting in Munich and Paris, Wiesbaden 1988
  5. radio.cz: The Last Czech Impressionist Ludvík Kuba , accessed on February 2, 2015
  6. musiklexikon.ac.at: Ludvík Kuba , accessed on February 2, 2015