Vlastimil Košvanec
Encyclopedia
Vlastimil Emil Košvanec (Karlín
december 14 1887 - Prague
november
1961) was a Czech painter
, graphic designer
and illustrator
.
on December 14 1887. He was baptized under the name of Emil Vlastimil in the Roman Catholic church on December 27 of the same year. The family was also composed by brothers Jaromir, Blazen and Bedrich.
After elementary school he attended the Imperial Royal Lyceum and got a qualification. After high school he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts at the Professor Vlaho Bukovac's school. In this period his father died and the industrial Antonin Pick Smichov became his stepfather. Later he studied with the Professor Vojtech Hynais, experimenting techniques of drawing and painting. At the Academy, Košvanec received awards as best student of the year several times. In 1909 he participated in a contest and received a scholarship by Hlavka foundation, one of the most desirable. The artist moved between many pictorial styles: Realism
, Impressionism
, Post-Impressionism
and Symbolism
. During this time he lived in Prague
Holesovice district, in Nad Štolou, near the Academy. After the academic studies, he traveled abroad until 1939 in Italy
, France
, Austria
, Germany
, Netherlands
, Albania
, Yugoslavia
and Montenegro
.
, 50 km east from Prague
. Teaching lasted until the half of the school year 1916/1917. In February 1917 young Košvanec resigned but we don't know the official reasons for this act.
The Czechoslovak Republic
was born, on October 28 1918, after the end of the First World War. The political situation was divided between the Communist Party
and the Nationalists. Košvanec began his collaboration with the magazines Koprivy (a satirical publication printed by the Social Democratic Party from 1909 until 1931) and Sršatec (a satirical magazine published by the Communist Party
during the Twenties). He probably used at least three pseudonyms to remain anonymous and to protect his safety: V. Havrda, V. Patrik and Karambol.
In 1920 he drew the illustrations of the book Three men with the shark and Other Stories(If Tri muzi zralokem ajine poucne historky) written by Jaroslav Hasek
, writer, activist of the Anarchist Party
, and author of the famous novel
The Good Soldier Švejk
(Osudy dobrého Vojak Svejk). A year later, in a booklet called Sovetsk Rusi, illustrations made by Košvanec appeared with those from two Avant-garde artists: Vaclav Spala
and Karel Teige
. The bohemien painter probably visited Picasso exhibition in 1921 and the nineteenth and twentieth century French art exposition of the 1923.
In 1922 each page of the booklet for children To the children of workers (Delnickym detemir) was composed illustrations and two verses notes by Košvanec. The painter was asked to draw twp of the four volumes of Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo
czech version, and this work became his masterpiece in 1923; the other two volumes were illustrated by graphic artist and painter Vaclav Cutta. In the same year the artist illustrated the book The fascists of B. G. Sandomirsky; a portrait of Benito Mussolini
appeared among the represented images. During the twenties Košvanec increased its prestige, and in the meantime he married the painter Františka Matouškova, which painted under the pseudonym Sidonie-Matoušková Košvancová later.
The artist, while cooperating with satirical magazines, worked for the left-wing newspaper Pravo Lido, later called Rude Pravo. The caricature
s, which accompanied the articles of Antonin Macek, were republished in 1958 in a book titled Kukátka (Telescope from the theater). The Czechoslovak Republic
, was a bilingual country until 1945, and there the German newspaper Prager Presse was published from 1921 to 1938: on its pages Košvanec issued his satiric cartoons. The cover of the book of Ivan Suk Little Girls under the lantern (Holcicky lucernou pod, 1926) was illustrated with a impressive drawing, that express the light and the shade of the human and social complexity of the prostitutes' world.
Košvanec was an active member of the left-wing group called Umelecká Beseda (founded in 1863) in 1929. It was an intellectual
elite which included figurative artists, musicians, philosophers and writers. The group was particularly animated, and it organized events and exhibitions of artists not only in Prague. It promoted international initiatives dedicated to artists like Carlo Carrà
(1929), Giorgio de Chirico
(1931) and even the École de Paris event of the same year. During this period Košvanec exposed not only in galleries in Prague, but in the whole czechoslovakian country.
, the elite
, the businessmen, the intellectual
and the illustrious men wanted a portrait to be immortalized. This privileged relation let the artist paint portray the most important characters of the First Republic just like the President Edvard Beneš
, democratic statesman and politician during the transition period between the end of Habsburg Empire (1918) and the Communist takeover of February
1948.
Košvanec studio was located in Prague
XII, in the district of Králosvky. In addition to portraits of celebrities, in these years the artist tried out figurative compositions set in bucolic, allegorical
, mythical settings, putting emphasis on color, light and joie de vivre. Nature became one thing with female figures, and mythologized women were identified with nymphs or represented as a goddess
. After many exhibitions from 1926 to 1937, a highly successful personal exhibition was held in Prague
in November 1939. Mr. Oscar Kokoschka, who lived in Prague from 1934 to 1938, played an important role in these events. Košvanec's paintings were more "praguese" at that moment: women appeared elegant, stylish, half-naked, surrounded by a flowering nature over the hills of Petrin, "in the greenish shade of wide gardens and leafy trees" in the quiet Hradcany, and these nymphs revealed the secret charm of Malá Strana
and of St. Nicholas Church
.
, in March 15 1939, the German protectorate began to enact a series of anti-Jewish
measures. The extermination of Jewish people started then, and Czech Resistance was violently repressed. Košvanec gave his fur coat to German soldiers on the public square, during a fundraising for the German troops in Stalingrad in winter 1941–1942, when the Second World War broke out. This theatrical gesture, which was judged to be outrageous, caused a collaborationism
accuse and the immediate expulsion from the Association of Czech artists (Blok cesých výtvarníku) once the war finished.
In 1947 Košvanec was processed. The artist was condemned, imprisoned and forced to pay a fine of 40,000 CZK. On September 29 1949 his wife died, he fell into a deep depression and lived a total nervous breakdown that forced him to stay in a mental hospital
. It seems that he was freed, thanks to the remission of the rest of the sentence, between 1949 and 1950.
.
Karlín
Karlín is a cadastral area of Prague, part of Prague 8 municipal district, former independent town . It is bordered by the river Vltava and Holešovice to the north, Vítkov hill and Žižkov to the south, New Town to the west and Libeň to the east.-History:The building of the Karlín district began in...
december 14 1887 - Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
november
November
November is the 11th month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of four months with the length of 30 days. November was the ninth month of the ancient Roman calendar...
1961) was a Czech painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
.
Childhood and youth
Vlastimil Kosvanec was son of Bedrich Košvanec, a glover, and Helena Košvancovà, a dressmaker, and he was born in KarlínKarlín
Karlín is a cadastral area of Prague, part of Prague 8 municipal district, former independent town . It is bordered by the river Vltava and Holešovice to the north, Vítkov hill and Žižkov to the south, New Town to the west and Libeň to the east.-History:The building of the Karlín district began in...
on December 14 1887. He was baptized under the name of Emil Vlastimil in the Roman Catholic church on December 27 of the same year. The family was also composed by brothers Jaromir, Blazen and Bedrich.
After elementary school he attended the Imperial Royal Lyceum and got a qualification. After high school he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts at the Professor Vlaho Bukovac's school. In this period his father died and the industrial Antonin Pick Smichov became his stepfather. Later he studied with the Professor Vojtech Hynais, experimenting techniques of drawing and painting. At the Academy, Košvanec received awards as best student of the year several times. In 1909 he participated in a contest and received a scholarship by Hlavka foundation, one of the most desirable. The artist moved between many pictorial styles: Realism
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
, Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
, Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
and Symbolism
Symbolism
Symbolism is the applied use of symbols. It is a representation that carries a particular meaning. It is a device in literature where an object represents an idea.A symbol is an object, action, or idea that represents something other than itself....
. During this time he lived in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
Holesovice district, in Nad Štolou, near the Academy. After the academic studies, he traveled abroad until 1939 in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
and Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
.
Magazines and illustrations
When he was twenty-eight (in 1916), he was chosen as substitute teacher at the Royal Lyceum of KolinKolín
Kolín is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic some east from Prague, lying on the Elbe river.-History:Kolín was founded by king Přemysl Otakar II in the 13th century, first mentioned in 1261. Later on, 1437, a castle was founded here...
, 50 km east from Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. Teaching lasted until the half of the school year 1916/1917. In February 1917 young Košvanec resigned but we don't know the official reasons for this act.
The Czechoslovak Republic
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
was born, on October 28 1918, after the end of the First World War. The political situation was divided between the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
and the Nationalists. Košvanec began his collaboration with the magazines Koprivy (a satirical publication printed by the Social Democratic Party from 1909 until 1931) and Sršatec (a satirical magazine published by the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
during the Twenties). He probably used at least three pseudonyms to remain anonymous and to protect his safety: V. Havrda, V. Patrik and Karambol.
In 1920 he drew the illustrations of the book Three men with the shark and Other Stories(If Tri muzi zralokem ajine poucne historky) written by Jaroslav Hasek
Jaroslav Hašek
Jaroslav Hašek was a Czech humorist, satirist, writer and socialist anarchist best known for his novel The Good Soldier Švejk, an unfinished collection of farcical incidents about a soldier in World War I and a satire on the ineptitude of authority figures, which has been translated into sixty...
, writer, activist of the Anarchist Party
Anarchy
Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...
, and author of the famous novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
The Good Soldier Švejk
The Good Soldier Švejk
The Good Soldier Švejk , also spelled Schweik or Schwejk, is the abbreviated title of a unfinished satirical/dark comedy novel by Jaroslav Hašek. It was illustrated by Josef Lada and George Grosz after Hašek's death...
(Osudy dobrého Vojak Svejk). A year later, in a booklet called Sovetsk Rusi, illustrations made by Košvanec appeared with those from two Avant-garde artists: Vaclav Spala
Václav Špála
Václav Špála was a Czech painter, graphic designer and illustrator.He studied at Prague Academy. His work he expose with “Stubborn” group. At the beginning of his career his work was influenced by Fauvism, later by Cubism. Since 1923 he painted mainly landscapes and still-lives.Václav Špála ranks...
and Karel Teige
Karel Teige
Karel Teige was the major figure of the Czech avant-garde movement Devětsil in the 1920s, a graphic artist, photographer, and typographer...
. The bohemien painter probably visited Picasso exhibition in 1921 and the nineteenth and twentieth century French art exposition of the 1923.
In 1922 each page of the booklet for children To the children of workers (Delnickym detemir) was composed illustrations and two verses notes by Košvanec. The painter was asked to draw twp of the four volumes of Les Miserables
Les Misérables
Les Misérables , translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century...
by Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
czech version, and this work became his masterpiece in 1923; the other two volumes were illustrated by graphic artist and painter Vaclav Cutta. In the same year the artist illustrated the book The fascists of B. G. Sandomirsky; a portrait of Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
appeared among the represented images. During the twenties Košvanec increased its prestige, and in the meantime he married the painter Františka Matouškova, which painted under the pseudonym Sidonie-Matoušková Košvancová later.
The artist, while cooperating with satirical magazines, worked for the left-wing newspaper Pravo Lido, later called Rude Pravo. The caricature
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
s, which accompanied the articles of Antonin Macek, were republished in 1958 in a book titled Kukátka (Telescope from the theater). The Czechoslovak Republic
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, was a bilingual country until 1945, and there the German newspaper Prager Presse was published from 1921 to 1938: on its pages Košvanec issued his satiric cartoons. The cover of the book of Ivan Suk Little Girls under the lantern (Holcicky lucernou pod, 1926) was illustrated with a impressive drawing, that express the light and the shade of the human and social complexity of the prostitutes' world.
Košvanec was an active member of the left-wing group called Umelecká Beseda (founded in 1863) in 1929. It was an intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
elite which included figurative artists, musicians, philosophers and writers. The group was particularly animated, and it organized events and exhibitions of artists not only in Prague. It promoted international initiatives dedicated to artists like Carlo Carrà
Carlo Carrà
Carlo Carrà was an Italian painter, a leading figure of the Futurist movement that flourished in Italy during the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to his many paintings, he wrote a number of books concerning art. He taught for many years in the city of Milan.-Biography:Carrà was born in...
(1929), Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico was a pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement...
(1931) and even the École de Paris event of the same year. During this period Košvanec exposed not only in galleries in Prague, but in the whole czechoslovakian country.
Portraiture
Košvanec was considered one of the finest portraitist, estimated both for the technique and his unique style. He imposed a taste and generated a style, to which the praguese upper classes aspired. The rich bourgeois, the aristocracyAristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
, the elite
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
, the businessmen, the intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
and the illustrious men wanted a portrait to be immortalized. This privileged relation let the artist paint portray the most important characters of the First Republic just like the President Edvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš was a leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second President of Czechoslovakia. He was known to be a skilled diplomat.- Youth :...
, democratic statesman and politician during the transition period between the end of Habsburg Empire (1918) and the Communist takeover of February
February
February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the shortest month and the only month with fewer than 30 days. The month has 28 days in common years and 29 days in leap years...
1948.
Košvanec studio was located in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
XII, in the district of Králosvky. In addition to portraits of celebrities, in these years the artist tried out figurative compositions set in bucolic, allegorical
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
, mythical settings, putting emphasis on color, light and joie de vivre. Nature became one thing with female figures, and mythologized women were identified with nymphs or represented as a goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
. After many exhibitions from 1926 to 1937, a highly successful personal exhibition was held in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
in November 1939. Mr. Oscar Kokoschka, who lived in Prague from 1934 to 1938, played an important role in these events. Košvanec's paintings were more "praguese" at that moment: women appeared elegant, stylish, half-naked, surrounded by a flowering nature over the hills of Petrin, "in the greenish shade of wide gardens and leafy trees" in the quiet Hradcany, and these nymphs revealed the secret charm of Malá Strana
Malá Strana
Malá Strana is a district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic, and one of its most historic regions.The name translated into English literally means "Little Side", though it is frequently referred to as "Lesser Town", "Lesser Quarter", or "Lesser Side"...
and of St. Nicholas Church
St. Nicholas Church
-Albania:*St. Nicholas' Church, Moscopole*St. Nicholas' Church, Perondi*St. Nicholas' Church, Shelcan-Bulgaria:*Church of St Nicholas, Sapareva Banya*Russian Church, Sofia*Church of St. Nicholas, Sofia*Church of St Nicholas, Vukovo-Germany:...
.
The War
After the arrival of the Nazi troops in PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, in March 15 1939, the German protectorate began to enact a series of anti-Jewish
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
measures. The extermination of Jewish people started then, and Czech Resistance was violently repressed. Košvanec gave his fur coat to German soldiers on the public square, during a fundraising for the German troops in Stalingrad in winter 1941–1942, when the Second World War broke out. This theatrical gesture, which was judged to be outrageous, caused a collaborationism
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
accuse and the immediate expulsion from the Association of Czech artists (Blok cesých výtvarníku) once the war finished.
In 1947 Košvanec was processed. The artist was condemned, imprisoned and forced to pay a fine of 40,000 CZK. On September 29 1949 his wife died, he fell into a deep depression and lived a total nervous breakdown that forced him to stay in a mental hospital
Mental Hospital
Mental hospital may refer to:*Psychiatric hospital*hospital in Nepal named Mental Hospital...
. It seems that he was freed, thanks to the remission of the rest of the sentence, between 1949 and 1950.
Death
Vlastimil Košvanec painted illegally during the Fifties. The artist fell in love with a young Gypsy woman. He spent his last years in complete isolation until November 1961 when, at the age of 74, died forgotten by everybody and his body was buried in the cemetery of Olšany in PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.