Josef Čapek

Josef Čapek (Mar 23, 1887 - Apr 1, 1945) was a Czech artist who was best known as a painter, but who was also noted as a writer and a poet. He invented the word robot, which was introduced into literature by his brother, Karel Čapek.

Youth:
He was born in the family of Doctor Antonín Čapek and his wife Božena He lived in a spa house in Malá Svatoňovice near Trutnov, together with Sister Helen (1886-1961); Here was born younger brother Karel (1890-1938) In 1890, the family moved to Úpice, where he attended the general (1892-1897) and the burgess (1897-1900) school. However, he did not enjoy too much, although the art talent could not be denied Went to a German two-year vocational school of weaving in Vrchlabí After graduating in 1903, he worked as a laborer in the FM Oberländera factory in the autumn of 1904. He began to live in Prague in the year 1904, where he studied at the School of Applied Arts here also in 1910 he met his future wife Jarmilou Pospíšilová (1889-1962) [p 2]

After graduating from the School of Applied Arts and after a second meeting with his future wife, he left for Paris in the autumn of 1910, where his brother Karel came in. Here he attended Academia Colarossi [p 3] The stay, originally planned for three years, shortened to three quarters of years Close to his chosen Karel Čapek in Paris, debuting the first version of the game "Loupežník"

The Čapková brothers returned to Prague in 1911, at the time when the tension between the older and the younger artistic generations in the Manes Society of Prague culminated. Most of the young artists, including the Čapek brothers, eventually left Mánes and founded the Group of Fine Artists. Of the World War, Josef Capek did not blame for eye problems

Marriage and middle age:
After nine years of acquaintance he married his long love Jarmila Čapková née Pospíšilová The marriage was held on 3 May 1919 in the church of Ludmily in Vinohrady [p 4] At that time the newlyweds lived with their brother Karl in their parents' flat on Říční Street in Prague; When the only daughter Alena Čapková, married to Dostálová (1923-1971), lived with Mother Jarmila Čapková, Zdenka Pospíšilová, at Purkyňovo Square (today Peace Square). In 1925, both brothers moved to the new building of a double house in today's Bratří Čapek street Prague Vinohrady

Around 1928, Josef Čapek inspired the children's world, because at this time his daughter Alena grew up in school years He especially wrote and illustrated the book Talk about a dog and a kitten and other books

Conclusion of Life:
1 September 1939 he was arrested by the Gestapo in Zeliv at Humpolec and imprisoned on September 9 with other prisoners transferred to the concentration camp Dachau near Munich and from there 26 September to Buchenwald where he was imprisoned for two and a half years. Since 1941 he was assigned to a painting and painting workshop, Where he painted pedigrees of SS members - for example, along with Emil Filla

June 26, 1942, he was transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he worked again at the painter's workshop, Taine translated English, Spanish and Norwegian poetry, and in December 1942 he created the first extensive poem After his brother Karel and created small pencil features In the following year in poetry, She traveled in the writings February 25, 1945 was transferred to the concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen, where the epidemic of typhus broke His body failed to defeat the spotty typhus According to some testimony he was still alive April 13 He died shortly before the liberation In June 1945 accompanied by Rudolf Margolius Jarmila Capek to Bergen-Belsen Look no further on Čapek The date of his death or his real grave is unknown, his symbolic tomb is located in Vyšehradské cemetery in Prague

Since the body was never found, the declaration of the dead was underway, at the end of which the official date of death was set in 1948 on 30 April 1947

Quote:
"In his work there was nothing incomprehensible, nothing untrue. He did not say what he did not know. He was, I would say, frankly simple. He was an honest craftsman of the Czech tradition of nine crafts - because, as the Kagy wanderer says:" Any artist who deserves this name has the corresponding amount of craft "And here, in this handmade honor, its deep poetic wisdom stems"
- Adolf Hoffmeister
Journalist:
After his return from Paris, Josef Čapek became an editor of the Artistic Monthly (1911-1912), a member of the Group of Fine Artists, after which he joined the Group of Fine Artists in Manes, where he was co-edited by his magazine Free Directions in 1913-1914 / 1913 published his most important essay The Creative Nature of Modern Times in which he expressed not only his opinion on modern art but also the very essence of artistic creativity In 1918 he became editor of the National Letters and in 1918-1920 edited the magazine Nebojsa In 1921 National Leaves Left and for 18 years (until 1939 arrested) editor and art critic in Lidové noviny He also worked as a cartoonist and contributed to many other journals and magazines

Artist:
Member of art groups and exhibitions:
Josef Čapek was a co-founder of the Group of Fine Artists, which was founded in 1911 (members of the Group were Václav Beneš, Emil Filla, Otakar Kubin). At the end of 1912, the Čapková Group brothers left and re-entered Mánes. In 1921 Josef Čapek joined the Tvrdošíjní group Other members were Rudolf Kremlička, Václav Špála and Jan Zrzavý)

Selection of the most important exhibitions:

January 1912: The first exhibition of the group in the Prague Municipal House, Josef Čapek, took part in his works Mother with a Child (Mother Worshiping Child, 1911) and Maid (1911). The exhibition did not meet the press and the work (including Čapek) was compared to neolithic or Children's
Autumn 1912: The second exhibition of the Capek Group exhibited the Cubist Harbor in Marseilles and Marseilles (1912)
March 1914: Eight Cubist Oil Paintings at 45th Manes Exhibition
On June 16, 1917, Berlin published the two-part magazine Die Aktion dedicated to Josef Čapek with the reproductions of the drawings and the original prints of his linocut
March 1918: Weinert's art and auction hall [p 5] was an exhibition entitled "And yet! An exhibition of several hard-hitting artists, where he contributed 31 paintings, carvings, linocuts and lithographs, and Josef Čapek, who was also the organizer of the exhibition
1921: Four Tvrdošíjní - Josef Čapek, Vlastislav Hofman, Václav Špála and Jan Zrzavý in Berlin and other German cities He introduced his new paintings painted under the influence of civilization (eg On the Perimeter of the Town, Suburban Gardening ...)
Spring 1923: Participation in Tvrdosin's exhibition in Krasoumna Unity (today the House of Artists)
October 1924: The first independent exhibition of Josef Čapek in the Krasoumna Unity in Prague - today The House of Artists (as the Sixth Exhibition of the Hardnesses) There were exhibited 106 oils from 1910 to 1924, 116 temper, watercolors, drawings and graphics including book envelopes. Of the Prague ensemble exhibited in Brno in the pavilion of the Artists' Club Aleš At the same time, she appeared in Musaion The monograph on Josef Čapek with the introductory text of Karel Čapek and Václav Špála
1979: A collective exhibition of Josef Čapek's work at the Prague Castle Riding School
October 2009 - January 2010: collective exhibition of Josef Čapek's work at the Prague Castle Riding School
Artistic development - early period:
From the early period (before traveling to Paris 1910), few works of Josef Čapek survived:

Portrait of Karel Čapek (1907, pastel)
During the study stay in Paris (1910-1911) he discovered the art of natural nations, the indigenous art of Africa and Oceania. The study of these artistic expressions and his theoretical work was his first major independent work In the sculptures of natural nations he discovered many essential elements for contemporary art creation The nature of art at all

Artistic development - from the return from Paris to the 1920s:
After the 1911-inspired fauvism works (Mother and Maid) he began with cubist attempts (1912 Marseilles and Marseilles Port, 1912). The transition between 1912 and Cubist figures from 1913 features an image of the New Town with the motif of the urban peripheries, composed of Right angle, dominated by a candelabra with an arc lamp Its top piece of work in 1913 is a Woman's act in which the body of a woman turns into a stringed instrument; The image combines the elements of analytical and synthetic Cubism. Cubist morphology used it with freedom and sense of humor, and did not avoid the clumsiness characteristic of naive art

In 1917, he discovers new themes - sailors and harriers. Example: Sailor (Africa) (1917), Carnation with a Big Hat (1918)

Artistic Development - Twenties:
In 1920 he exhibited his paintings Piják, Smoker in the Landscape, and Man with the Hand on the Second Tvrdosinian Exhibition These are the plastic simplified figures of sharp shapes in the real space Expensive sharp forms and characteristic color emphasize the nature of the figures and their psychological condition Besides them he used also rounded smooth forms , But also a distinctive contour and violent contrasts of light Around 1923, a period of "guys" began to appear in his painting. The painting of Hadrařs began, painting ended Woodman (1927) He often painted beggars, waltz, figures from social scams that raised suspicion and fear The main expression means has now become an expressive contour line and a magical light that creates an atmosphere of mystery and dramatic tension. Color symbolically underlines the content of the image

At the end of the twenties, he wrote for Alice's daughter Talk about a dog and a kitten and his painting work from "guys" turns to children. Among the paintings with children's themes include Two Boys with a Ball (1928), A Little Girl with Strawberries (1930) Later - Kids Games (1937)

Artistic Development - Thirties:
Since 1931 he has created pictures with the theme of hunters Example: Myslivci (1934, originally owned by Olga Scheinpflug)

In 1933, Josef Čapek painted the image of the Mrak to open a new theme of the journey and pilgrims. This image can also be interpreted as a precursor to the future development of the world. Another example of the theme of the journey is Landscape with the Cross and Pigeons (1937)

Between 1933 and 1937, he created the Nights with Hugely Loving Lover on the Background of the Starry Skies. He composed five compositions in black, red, brown, green and blue, dominating the erotic charm, lyrical desires and the desire for the stars

Artistic development - anti-fascist:
After Hitler's rise to power, as well as other artists, he responded to the political situation He published in the newspapers drawings from the cycle In the Shadow of Fascism

In 1937, a book with the preface of Josef Hore was published. Dictator's shoes - drawings printed in Lidové noviny One year later, in response to the civil war in Spain, he created a cycle of satirical drawings Modern times The creepy atmosphere is reflected in the pictures of Ohníčky (1937), Hrozko (1937) In the Landscape with the Cross and the Pigeons (1937) This year his paintings hung in the exposition of Czechoslovak art at the Mayor Gallery in London and in 1938 at the exhibition of Czech painters at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh with the last painting cycles created by the Fire Cycles (1938-1939) Desire (1939) Protests with painful sadness against Munich The names of the two cycles originated only after the war in 1945 on the occasion of their exhibition in the Artistic Forum They are admirably large, contain almost 70 oil paintings and over 300 drawings to the intended third cycle to celebrate the victory, Only a sketch of pencil survived: the motif of the cock, the welcoming A new day

Works for the theater:
Theater plays:
See Literary Work

Stage design:
As a stage designer he debuted on Jan. 25, 1921, a costume expedition to RU R at the Prague National Theater. In April, he designed a scene for the Heiberg play of the Tragedy of Love, in June to Lenormand Tourneé, and in November to Zeyer's Old History

In 1922 he made four theater expeditions, six in 1923 and until 1932 when he finished his scenography, he was sixty-five. He worked as a stage designer with the National Theater in Prague, the State Theater in Brno and the Municipal Theater in Vinohrady

For the Prague premiere of the Insect Life game at the National Theater (8 April 1922), he designed a scene and costumes in which he used his art of artistic abbreviations and stylizations In the "butterfly" part of the scene filled with motifs of colorful flowers and colorful bikes, And black stylized vegetation. For the first time, it also used a circular horizon with a transparent curtain projected by color projections: flashes, rainbow spectra, black smoke chimneys ... Scenes on the scene so depicted and commented on Not creating new, specifically stage art means and procedures, Modern painting whose problems he applied to stage design The costume designs created distinct types whose precise characteristics heaved up to a light caricature His costumes and masks of insect forms of plastic changes changed the actor's face and form into grotesque shapes

His artistic cooperation with the theater culminated in the mid 20's. In the years 1923-1927, he created more realistic scenes on the scene, modernly stylized in the proposals for social drama Henri Gheon Brej (1922), according to Expressionist principles, he held a decisive color tone: prospectus, backdrops, Costumes ranged in different shades of color of flour, bread and sacking In the Aristophanes' Women's Assembly (1923), he used a bright color and somewhat rustic costume ornamentation, Romain's Conservatory (1924) was based on Art Nouveau

Literary work:
Together with his brother Karel:
1910 Love Fate Game (1922) - Single Note, Written 1910, by Otakar Štorch-Marien, Prague 1922
1913 The Almanac for 1914 - Walk, Event and Water Landscape is one of the first Cubist prose works in the Czech Literature Vydalo Družstvo Overview, Prague
1916 Radiant Deep and Other Passes - Collection of short stories, published by František Borový, Prague
1918 Krakonoš's Garden - Collection of Short Stories, published by František Borový, Prague
1921 From Insect Life - Theater Game, Otakar Štorch-Marien, Prague 1921, World Premiere of Brno 1922
1925 How to create a play and tour behind the scenes - Vydal Otakar Štorch-Marien, Praha
1926 Adam the Creator - Theatrical play, written 1926, by Otakar Štorch-Marien, Prague 1927, World premiere of the National Theater Prague 1927

Separate creation:
1917 Lélio - The Collection of Short Stories, the first independent book by Josef Čapek, the author thinks about the unknowability of the meaning of life, published by Kamilla Neumannová, Prague
1920 The most humble art - The essays to which he summed up the reflections, published 1918-1920 It was a combination of a poetic feuille with an aesthetic essay He wrote, for example, the signs of small merchants, the old sofa, portrait of the old woman Rafael Jörk Published by Aventinum, Prague
1923 For The Dolphin - A Collection of Short Stories, published by Bohuslav Reynek, Petrkov
1923 Country of many names - Theatrical play - Takes pessimism from Lelia; The main question is whether a person can be morally reborn For the use of the Atlantis motif, the work is put into fantastic literature Published by Otakar Štorch-Marien, Prague
1923 Little by little - Fejeton, published by Aventinum, Prague
1924 Artificial Man - Illustrated specimen, published by Aventinum, Prague
1928 Ledacos - Fejetony, published by Otakar Štorch-Marien, Prague
1929 Talking about a dog and a kitten: how they worked together and about all sorts of other things - a fairy-tale book, an incident of a dog and a cat who live and manage together Vydaval Otakar Štorch-Marien, Praha
1930 The shadow of the fern - A story - a ballad about the pursuit of two poachers who murdered the forester and hiding in the woods of the Bohemian Forest Gradually, they seize the remorse of conscience, they do not fit into the world of ordered people or into the world of nature Finally, one of them is shot by gendarmes, the other commits suicide This book was awarded state prize for 1931 Published by Aventinum, Prague
1932 Well, it happened, or The Thin Grandma, the Raiders and the Detectives - Dramatization of the Fairy tale The Great Grandchild of the Book of Karel Čapek Devatero Fairytales, composed by Jaroslav Křička Vydal František Borový, Praha
1936 The grumbling pilgrim (what I saw in the world) Essay, philosophical considerations about the meaning of life and art Vydal František Borový, Praha
1938 The art of natural nations - The author's most important and important book about fine arts, in which he summed up his knowledge and reflections on the native art of Africa and other continents The envelope and the binding by František Muzika, published by František Borový, Prague
1946 Poems from the concentration camp - Poems based on specific experiences and memories and fascinating to the existential reflection of the human devotion given by the rule of the evil Verš are distant from the optimistic pathos and rhetoric Ordered by Vladimír Holan, posthumously published by František Borový, Prague
1947 Written in the Clouds (1936-1939) - aphorism Posthumously published by František Borový, Prague
1954 Let's Tell You, Children - from Contributions Written in the Years 1929-1933 for Children's Corner of Lidové noviny, issued posthumously by Miroslav Halík
Book Graphics:
February 6, 1919, published in the journal Červen Band G Apollinaire translated by Karel Čapek with his 12 linocuts In book form, with 15 linocuts, published in the publishing house F Borův in April of the same year In 1919 he also began to devote himself to book graphic Works with Bohuslav Reynka and Josef Florian

The first book envelope was created in 1918 by Neumann's collection of Hot Van. By 1938, Josef Čapek had a hundred and fifty envelopes. Almost always he worked with linocut, because he requires "only large forms, he does not allow to subside into inferior wrinkles and details" (Mráz 1987: 96), it demands the most basic and rougher, it works elementarily, which corresponds to the essence of modern art Čapek's "envelope" creativity was fully launched in 1920 For Karel Čapek designed linocuts for the envelope of the Apetitumum (1920) and RUR (Otakar Štorch-Marien, 1921), to the book The Critic of Words (BM Klika, 1920) and French poetry of the New Age in the translations of Karel Čapek (František Borový, 1920), for Sister Helen to the Little Girl (Otakar Štorch-Marien, 1920) Consideration of New Art Let Life Live! (Frantisek Borov, 1920) to the poems of Josef Nemasta, F German and Hugo Sonnenschein, Francis Jammes, Marie Pujmanová and Jules Romainse, etc. Each of its envelopes was different in shape and color, always the original,

In 1921 Aventinum publishes the Čapek Brothers game The Insect Life with its Envelope Other books on whose art work he participated: most often the plays and novels of his brother Karel, but he also created envelopes for other authors Aventina Since 1922 they started in His book illustrations predominate drawings above linocuts Drawings were better suited to feuillo, epic prose or theater play They were simple, the basis of a contour, a simple outline, which has a great diversity at Čapek: strong, embarrassingly thin, dynamic, sharp, calm, sharp ...

His inclination to work for children around 1928 is evident in his book Graphics In this period, he most often illustrated books for the smallest readers: eg:

Frog Adventure - Kenneth Graham
Edudant and Francimor - (Karel Poláček, published by František Borový, 1933)
The boys hurry after him !, Alarm in the Kovářská alley - (Václav Řezáč, published by Adolf Synek, 1934)
The cartoons of Karel Čapek were also accompanied by funny drawings:

Gardening Year (Aventinum, 1929)
Minda čili About Breeding Dogs (The Association of Czech Bibliophiles, 1930)
Filmography:
A few short films, three TV productions and one feature film were shot on Josef Capek's themes

1950: About a proud nightgown, How a dog with a kitty myli floor (directed by Eduard Hofman, spoke Karel Höger)
1951: How did a dog rip his pants, How did a dog with a cat make a cake, A doll who cried a weeping, Dog and cat as they wrote the writing, (directed by Eduard Hofman, Karel Höger spoke)
1955: How the World Is Made (directed by Eduard Hofman, spoke Karel Höger)
1956: We Play, It's Morning (directed by Eduard Hofman, spoke Karel Höger)
1970: The Big Grandpa (TV production, director Pavel Kraus, lead role Ladislav Pešek)
1973: From Insect Life (TV production, directed by Jan Matějovský)
1977: How a dog with a cat mistle floor ("Crow and a Little Piece", Ukraine, directed by Alla Gračova)
1984 Thrilled Grandfather (TV production, directed by Věra Jordánová, lead role Rudolf Hrušínský)
1985 Shadow of the Fern (film, directed by František Vláčil)
In the film On the Shore of Days (1983, directed by Bohuslav Musil, Rudolf Hrušínský and Ladislav Mrkvička) were used documentaries by Karel and Josef Čapek In the film Člověk proti zkaze (1989, directed by Štěpán Skalský), Josef Čapek played František Řehák

Points of Interest:
As Karel testified, Josef Čapek was also the author in many languages ​​of the world-wide word "robot" Karel Capek who used this name for an artificial man in RUR
http://hisour.com/artist/josef-capek/