Max Švabinský

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Max Švabinský (1873-1962) was a Czech painter, draughtsman, graphic artist, and professor in Academy of Graphis Arts in Prague. Švabinský is considered one of the greatest personalities in the history of Czech painting and possibly the most significant of the first half of the 20th century. He was one of just a few representatives of modern art who was positively accepted by the communist regime.

[edit] Biography

Max Švabinský was born on September 17, 1873 in Kroměříž. Together with Jan Preisler, Antonín Slavíček, and Miloš Jiránek, he was one of the founders of Czech modern art. Early on, Švabinský exhibited period tendencies towards Plenérian Realism, Symbolism, and Art Nouveau. Some of his greatest early works were portraits or family-oriented paintings. Švabinský and his wife Ela often stayed with the Vejrych family in Kozlov near Česká Třebová. There he was inspired by the picturesque landscape. This is the period in which he painted some of his most famous "masterpieces." In Kozlov, at the beginning of the century, he took up graphics systematically, especially etching and Mezzotinta. On account of the high value of the graphic work, he was appointed a professor of the Prague Academy in 1910. In the leaves of Paradisiacal Sonata in 1917, he extended his expression with wood engraving, at which time the importance of his graphic work started to prevail over the painter’s work. In the thirties, he got the opportunity to express himself in monumental forms. After the mosaics for the National Monument on Žižkov Hill, he painted boards for three coloured windows of the St. Vitus’s Cathedral in Prague. At the same time and with the same intensive graphic interest, he was able to present a graphic miniature of a postage stamp. At the first session of the government in 1945, he was awarded the title of “National Artist”. Max Švabinský died on February 10, 1962.

[edit] External links

• Radio Prague - Svabinsky