Zdeňka Černý

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zdeňka Černý (born August 26, 1895 in Chicago ; † January 11, 1998 ) was an American cellist of Czech descent who was portrayed in a poster designed by Alfons Mucha and hailed as "The greatest Bohemian violoncellist".

resume

Zdeňka Olga Černý was the second of three children of Albert Vojtech Černý, who emigrated to the USA in 1888, and Frances Engelthaler. Her father taught piano, cello, violin and singing as a music teacher and founded his own music school. Zdeňka learned to play the cello from her father and soon became a recognized cellist. She had to break off a European tour planned for 1914 after the beginning of the First World War .

On March 11, 1916, she married Otto Vasak (1882–1961). There were three children from the marriage. After portraying her daughter Jetta Vasak, Vasak forbade her to continue her musical career and even to do any teaching. Although Zdeňka was 102 years old, she never played the cello again.

After Vasak died in 1961, she remarried two years later and moved to live with her husband in California . There she was in circles of artists who were enthusiastic about the almost forgotten Mucha poster.

History of the creation of the Mucha poster

The well-known Art Nouveau artist and graphic artist Alfons Mucha stayed with the Černý family in Chicago for several months as part of a trip to America from 1904 to 1905 and created several portraits of their older daughter Milada (1892–1973), who was already a virtuoso pianist was. According to the family tradition of Jetta Vasak, Zdeňka asked the artist to portray her too, but he replied that she first had to become a virtuoso cellist. In March 1913, Mucha visited the family again, and Zdeňka reminded him of the deal. Mucha had a portrait of Zdeňka made with her cello and on this basis created the lithograph , from which the poster for the planned European tour, which was canceled after the outbreak of the war, was then designed under his supervision.

Bibliography

  • Jetta Marie Vasak: My Bohemian Heritage. Blue Dolphin Publishing 2016.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Michael: a cellist lost. In: Prose and Passion. March 8, 2018, accessed June 7, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Alphonse Mucha. Retrieved June 7, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Černý, Zdeňka
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cellist
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 1998