Vojtěch Priced

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Vojtěch Priced

Vojtěch Preissig (born July 31, 1873 in Světec , Bohemia ; † June 11, 1944 in the Dachau concentration camp ) was a Czech graphic artist , painter and illustrator . In Boston , Preissig organized the recruitment of volunteers into the Czechoslovak regiments in France and created a number of advertising posters and postcards for the independence of Czechoslovakia. At the beginning of his artistic career he was an important exponent of Art Nouveau , then in the 1930s he was a pioneer of Czech abstract art. As a resistance fighter against the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Nazi state , he died after his imprisonment in the Dachau concentration camp.

Life

From 1892 to 1897, Preissig studied decorative architecture under Friedrich Ohmann at the Prague Academy for Art, Architecture and Design . After completing his studies, he left Prague and traveled to Paris after short study periods in Vienna and Munich . Here he worked with Alfons Mucha and at the same time studied painting techniques in private studios. In 1903 he returned to Prague, where he took a job in a letter foundry. In 1905 he set up his own studio, in which he painted his early works in elegant linear Art Nouveau. He also illustrated books, created posters and commercial graphics. He founded the magazine Česká grafika (Czech graphics) and became a member of the Association of Visual Artists Mánes and the Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar. The Art Nouveau illustrations for the Slezské písně edition by Petr Bezruč , published in 1909 , also date from this period. His three daughters Vojtěška, Irena and Yvona were born between 1901 and 1907.

From the series of military postcards, 1915

After his studio had been confiscated by the bailiff due to financial difficulties, Preissig and his family left Prague in 1910 and emigrated to the USA . From 1912 to 1916 he taught at the Art Students 'League , and from 1914 also at the Teachers' College of Columbia University , both in New York. From 1916 to 1926 he was director of the School of Printing and Graphic Arts at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston.

Preissig's Antiqua
Peacock feather, 1936

In his private life he dealt with typography . The so-called “Preissig Antiqua ” also dates from the 1920s , a typeface produced by the Prague State Printing House in 1925, which is known as the first modern typeface for the Czech language. Preissig experimented with numerous techniques, including - in addition to oil painting - linocuts , etching , woodcuts , mezzotint and collage . His bookplate works were also well known . Preissig is also counted among the first Czech abstract artists.

Preissig, who, among other things, got to know Tomáš Masaryk, who later became the first President of Czechoslovakia, personally in the USA , was heavily involved in the independence movement in Bohemia during the First World War. He painted countless posters dedicated to the recruitment of volunteers for the Czechoslovak legions in Europe and the struggle for independence. His very popular military postcards from this period achieved high print runs. Among other things, he also made some designs for a Czechoslovak flag that were strongly based on the flag of the United States (or some federal states) (stars, stripes, stripe crosses in white, red and blue).

In the summer of 1921 he sent his daughters to Prague with the statement that he would be coming soon; However, after a stay in Prague in 1930, this finally only happened in August 1931. With his exhibitions in 1931, 1933 and 1934 he established himself as one of the country's leading abstract artists.

Registration card from Vojtěch Preissig as a prisoner in the National Socialist concentration camp Dachau

After the defeat of Czechoslovakia by the German Empire, he and his family joined the Czechoslovak resistance . He was one of the driving forces behind the founding of the illegal magazine V boj , which appeared from 1939 to 1941 and was the main resistance magazine in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . He illustrated the magazine with anti-Nazi and patriotic drawings, temporarily headed the editorial work and organized material as well as sales. When the first editorial office was founded in March 1939, Preissig was part of the inner circle of employees, after which it was broken up in November 1939, he continued the publication with new helpers, in particular with his daughter Irena Bernášková . On September 21, 1940, this group of over 40 people was also dug up and arrested by the Gestapo. While Preissig's daughter was executed in 1942 and his wife, Irena Preissigová, was released from prison in September 1943, Preissig remained imprisoned until he was sentenced to almost three years in prison after being imprisoned in Gollnow , Hamburg and Dresden. He spent imprisonment in Bayreuth and Prague and was finally transferred to Dachau concentration camp in January 1944 , where he died of typhus on June 11, 1944.

swell

  • Blanka Jedličková, Ženy okolo ilegálního časopisu "V boj" 1939-1942 [women associated with the illegal magazine V boj 1939-1942], online at: dspace.upce.cz / ... (PDF; 5.3 MB), P. 25ff. and 44ff.
  • Preissig Vojtěch , short biography on www.stormtype.com / ...
  • Vojtech Preissig, The House , short biography at: www.artoftheprint.com / ...
  • Neznami hrdinove [Unknown Heroes], a broadcast by the ČT24 TV channel on December 25, 2012, online at: www.ceskatelevize.cz / ... (at 6:30 pm, 26 min).

Remarks

  1. ↑ The occasional statement that Preissig returned to Prague in 1913 or 1921 is obviously wrong. There are a number of documents on the Internet, including official documents, which prove that Preissig stayed in the USA until 1930 - s. for example www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/preissig… . What is certain is that Preissig sent his family to Prague earlier to come later.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vojtech Preissig, short report on luc.devroye.org/
  2. ↑ Vojtech Preissig, Ex-Libris, online at www.p22.com/… ( Memento from October 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Military postcards by Vojtech Preissig, online (shown) on: milpc.webpark.cz/ ( Memento from September 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Vývoj české vlajky, online at: vlast.cz/vyvoj…
  5. ↑ Inca Bernášková - statečná žena ze Spořilova. in: Spořilovské noviny. September 27, 2005, online at: www.sporilov.info/…
  6. ↑ Národní archiv [National Archives], Fond ČSBS 2310, p. 93, quoted here. according to Blanka Jedličková, Ženy okolo ilegálního časopisu "V boj" 1939-1942 [women from the environment of the illegal magazine V boj 1939-1942], online at: dk.upce.cz / ... (PDF; 5.3 MB) , P. 49, fn. 201.

Web links

Commons : Vojtěch Preissig  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Preissig, Vojtěch
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech graphic artist, painter and illustrator, resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH black
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 1944
Place of death Dachau concentration camp