Jan Autengruber (25 April 1887,

Pacov Pacov (; german: Patzau) is a town in Pelhřimov District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,600 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative ...

– 15 July 1920,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

) was a

Post-impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

painter.

Biography

After the early death of his father, his family moved to

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is t ...

. After completing his primary education, he was accepted at the

Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (AAAD, cs, Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze, abbreviated VŠUP, also known as UMPRUM) is a public university located in Prague, Czech Republic. The university offers the study d ...

. After two years, he transferred to the

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

, where he was a two-time recipient of the annual award. He achieved very little critical attention in his home country, so he exhibited widely throughout Germany: in Munich, Berlin, Dresden,

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

, Hannover, Cologne, Hamburg, and Frankfurt. In 1913, he was awarded a scholarship to study in Italy. During the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he attempted to avoid being drafted by studying restorative art at the Munich Academy, but it was only a short reprieve and he was mustered into service at

Jindřichův Hradec Jindřichův Hradec (; german: Neuhaus) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 21,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. Administrative par ...

. He managed to survive the war and settled in Prague, where he took courses in art history at the

Faculty of Arts, Charles University The Faculty of Arts, Charles University ( cs, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy), is one of the original four faculties of Charles University in Prague. When founded, it was named the Faculty of the Liberal Arts or the Artistic Faculty. The ...

. In 1919, he married the artist Hana Jedličková (1888–1970). The following year, he became a victim of the

flu pandemic An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads across a large region (either multiple continents or worldwide) and infects a large proportion of the population. There have been six major influenza epidemics in the last ...

, dying from a combination of flu and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

. His wife spent her life promoting his works. A major retrospective was held in 2002 at the

National Gallery in Prague The National Gallery Prague ( cz, Národní galerie Praha, NGP), formerly the National Gallery in Prague (), is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic and presents masterpieces of Cze ...

, followed by another in 2009 at the in

Plzeň Plzeň (; German and English: Pilsen, in German ) is a city in the Czech Republic. About west of Prague in western Bohemia, it is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 169,000 inhabita ...

.''Plzeňská výstava představuje umělce, který přerostl české poměry''
– kultura.iDNES.cz, 22. 10. 2009

Selected paintings

Jan Autengruber - 001.jpg, View of Naples (?) Jan Autengruber - Cesta v brezovem haji.jpg, Path in a Birch Grove Jan Autengruber (1887-1920) - lázeň (1911).jpg, Bathing Jan Autengruber (1887-1920) - houslistka (1913).jpg, Violinist

References

External links

Biography and appreciation
@ the West Bohemian Gallery
Works by and about Autengruber
@ the Databáze Národní Knihovny ČR {{DEFAULTSORT:Autengruber, Jan 1887 births 1920 deaths People from Pacov 20th-century Czech painters Painters from Austria-Hungary Post-impressionist painters Deaths from Spanish flu Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague alumni

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links