Viktor Oliva
Viktor Oliva (born April 24, 1861 in Nové Strašecí , † April 5, 1928 in Prague ) was a Czech graphic artist , illustrator , painter and poster artist of Art Nouveau .
Live and act
At the age of 17, Oliva studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague with the painter and restorer František Sequens (1836–1896) and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich . In Munich he joined the Czech artists' association Škréta , to which Luděk Marold and Alfons Maria Mucha also belonged.
In 1888, like many Czech art students, he was drawn from Munich to Paris on Montmartre , where he became part of the rapidly growing art scene. He lived in the Seine metropolis for several years and made friends with the original “Parisian Bohème ” - Bohemian artists and writers of the 19th century such as Mikoláš Aleš , Jakub Arbes and Karel Vítězslav Mašek . Oliva was also an avid balloonist : in 1891 he went on a balloon flight from Prague to the Baltic Sea with the crew of French aviation pioneer Louis Godard , which was described in a novel published by JR Vilímek . Back in his native country, in 1897, he became a picture editor at the Zlatá Praha (Golden Prague) magazine, published by Jan Otto , and the Ottův slovník naučný (Otto's Conversational Lexicon) encyclopedia , for which he was to work for 19 years. Around that time he met Anna Adamcová; the two married. In 1898 their son Viktor Oliva Jr. was born, who later also became an artist. However, the marriage was short-lived: Anna ran away with a singer named Mařák and Oliva was left alone with his son.
Viktor Oliva was very productive for over a quarter of a century and spent a lot of time with his longtime friend the globetrotter and writer Josef Kořenský (1847–1938) whose travelogues he illustrated. Oliva was a versatile " use graphical " artist: he designed numerous book illustrations and - book bindings , bookplates and advertising posters, but also painted landscapes and stage decorations for the theater as well as framed ceiling paintings in numerous buildings such as the Měšťanská beseda (Civic Association House) in Pilsen . His best-known picture, The Absinthe Drinker ( Czech : Piják absintu ) from 1901, hangs in the famous Prague Café Slavia and shows a gentleman who consumes absinthe with a "green fairy", as absinthe is also called. Further works by Olivas include Lady in Red , Lady in White ( Anna Karenina ), Im Heilbad , Mother Slavia and Farewell .
Viktor Oliva died shortly before his 67th birthday on April 5, 1928 in Prague. He is buried in the Olšany Cemetery in Prague.
Works (selection)
- 1889: Book illustrations for Svatopluk Čech : Pravý výlet pana Broučka do měsíce (Mr Broucek's Journey to the Moon)
- 1895/96: Poster design Topičův salon
- 1901: The Absinthe Drinker ( Piják absintu )
Pravý výlet pana Broučka do měsíce (Mr Broucek's Journey to the Moon) (1889)
Topičův salon (1895)
Topičův salon (1896)
Ceiling painting in Měšťanska Beseda , Pilsen
In the spa
Web links
- Viktor Oliva at artfacts.net
- Viktor Oliva at artnet.de
swell
- ↑ a b History of Viktor Oliva on olivabsinth.com
- ^ Roman Prahl: Munich and the beginnings of modernism in Czech art . on zeitenblicke.de (accessed January 30, 2008)
- ↑ Jiřina Todorovová: Obrazový doprovod českých cestopisů z přelomu 19. a 20. století ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Text and images in the Olomouc / Olomouc Scientific Library (accessed February 1, 2008)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Oliva, Viktor |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Czech painter and graphic artist of Art Nouveau |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 24, 1861 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nové Strašecí |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 5, 1928 |
| Place of death | Prague |