Václav Hradecký
Václav Hradecký (born October 21, 1867 in Světlá nad Sázavou , † July 14, 1940 in Domažlice ) was a Czech academic painter .
Life
Hradecký was born on October 21, 1867 in a family of vendors and city councilors in Světlá nad Sázavou as one of six siblings. After finishing school he went to Prague in 1887 to study painting. He began his studies in the arts and crafts school in Prague with Professor František Ženíšek . After a year he moved to the Prague Academy of Painting (later the Imperial Academy of Arts ), where he continued his studies with Professors František Sequens (1888-1893) and Václav Brožík (1893-1897). He studied at the academy until 1897.
In 1893 he exhibited his works at the world exhibition in Chicago, three years later his "Scenes from the Peasant Struggle" attracted a lot of attention at an exhibition in Philadelphia. In 1896, 1897 and 1900 he presented his works at exhibitions in Prague. He was also briefly a member of the Mánes Association. He became friends with Ludek Marold .
In 1901 he went as a young anarchist with like-minded militants to Paris, where he was friends with František Kupka and with other Czech artists residing in France (Jan Dědina, Rudolf Plaček, Vojtěch Preissig , Ludvík Strimpl). 1902–1905 he made illustrations for the satirical magazine L'Assiette au Beurre . In 1905 he produced a collection of satirical drawings about the bloody crackdown on uprisings in Russia.
He returned to Prague probably in 1908. The loner developed strong patriotic feelings. He was interested in historical crossroads in Czech history, especially the Reformation period. He often came back to the motive of the executions in the Old Town Square in 1621. He lived and worked in the studio at Národní třída 20 in Prague. Until the end of his life, then already avoiding the public, he was also a member of a brotherhood of intellectuals who isolated themselves from the outside world. He hated his critics, not his works. Probably the last politically motivated drawing by Václav Hradecký was “The Republic Carried Her Cross”, a reaction to “Munich”, from November 21, 1938. He died suddenly on July 14, 1940 during a summer stay in his sister's apartment in Domažlice .
Heritage and Exhibitions
After his death, the extensive artistic legacy was passed into the possession of Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic with a gallery in the Tyršova House on Lesser Town Prague. Today the collections belong to the Museum of National Literature in Prague. A comprehensive exhibition of Hradecký's works was shown here in 1972 (catalog and curator Rumiana Dačeva). Hradecký's caricatures were shown in 2001 in Olomouc , Vysoké Mýto and Paris. There was also an exhibition of his works in 2005 in the Graphics Museum in Chrudim .
Selected Works
- Výjev ze selských bojů - scene from peasant fighting
- Poprava českých pánů roku 1621 - execution of Czech nobles in 1621
- Study ze židovského města - studies from the Jewish community
- Fini's ghetto
- Francouzská revoluce - The French Revolution
- II.list z Dědictví parijů - II. Letter from childhood legacy
- Melechov
- David
literature
- Adolf Hoffmeister : Sto let české cartoony , Praha 1953
- Prokop Toman: Nový slovník československých výtvarných umělců , Praha 1953
- Pavel Chalupa: Václav Hradecký - La Bohème à Paris , catalog výstavy v Galerii Patro, Olomouc 2001
- Pavel Chalupa: L'Assiette au Beurre par Hradecký , výběr z ilustrací, facsimile, Městská galerie Vysoké Mýto 2001
- Pavel Chalupa, Michel Dixmier, Raymond Bacholet: Ať zhyne starý, podlý svět , catalog výstavy ke 100. výročí časopisu L´Assiette au Beurre v Městské galerii Vysoké Mýto 2001
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hradecký, Václav |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Czech academic painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 21, 1867 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Světlá nad Sázavou |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 14, 1940 |
| Place of death | Domažlice |