Josef Váchal

Josef Váchal (23 September 1884 in Milavče near Domažlice – 10 May 1969 in Studeňany) was a Czech writer, painter, printmaker and book-printer.

Váchal was the son of Josef Aleš-Lyžec and Anna Váchalová - his parents never married. He was brought up by his grandparents, Jan Aleš and Jana Alešová, in the southern Bohemian town of Písek, where he entered grammar school but left it prematurely. In 1898 Váchal moved to Prague, where he studied bookbinding and befriended his father's cousin, the painter Mikoláš Aleš. He was influenced by Art Nouveau during that time.

In 1900 he wrote his first poems, by 1903 he joined the ''Prague Theosophy Society'', in 1904 he entered the Painter School and later became a respected painter and graphic designer. In 1910 Váchal published his first two books. Between January 1912 and January 1913 he enjoyed a short but intense friendship with the mystical Catholic writer Jakub Deml. In March 1913, Váchal married Máša Pešulová, and began a friendship with the collector J. Portman; Portman's house ''Portmoneum'' is now the Váchal Museum in Litomyšl.

From 1916 to 1918 Váchal served as a soldier on the Italian front. During 1940, expressing resistance against Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, he moved from Prague to the village of Studeňany, a part of Radim in eastern Bohemia ('tusculum' or 'exile'). After the communist revolution of 1948 in Czechoslovakia, he became more socially and culturally isolated and his works were rarely seen in public. He lived in obscurity on the family estate of his partner, Anna Macková, in Studeňany. Even with the coming of Prague Spring in the late 1960s his situation didn't significantly change. He was, however, awarded the state title of Meritorious Artist shortly before his death in 1969. He is buried in Radim.

The publishing house Paseka was inspired by the character ''publisher Paseka'' in Váchal's ''Bloody Novel''. Portmoneum, Váchal's museum in Litomyšl, was founded by Paseka publishing house in the early 1990s.

Work (only main texts)

*Krvavý román it. "Bloody Novel"published 1924
*Mor v Korcule lague in Korcula(published 1927)
*Malíř na frontě. Soca Italie 1917-18 ainter in War. Soca and Italy 1917-18(published 1929)
*Šumava umírající a romantická abreta dying and romantical(published 1931, 11 copies)
*Receptář barevného dřevorytu ook of colored woodcut(published 1934) - theoretical work on woodcut techniques
*Nejnovejší legatio mortuorum ewest legatio mortuorum(published 1936)
*Kázání ad calendas graecas ermon ad calendas graecas(published 1939, 17 copies)
*Ďáblova odstředivka evil's Spin Drier(published 1941, 10 copies)
*Čertova babička mp's Grandma(written 1940-1948)
*Moudrost Svobodného zednářství isdom of Free-Masonry(written 1951)
*Robinson mohelnský obinson of Mohelno(written 1955)
*Živant a umrlanti iving Man (=Váchal) and Zombies (=communists) of this world(written 1956)
*Čarodejnice z Holešovic neboli Vězeň v bolševickém hradě itch of Holesovice or Prisoner in Bolsheviks's Castle(written 1959)
*Paměti emoirspublished 1994
*Deníky 1922-1964 iariespublished 1998

References

*J. Kroutvor: Josef Váchal. Prague: Argestea 1994.
*J. Olič: Nejlépe tlačiti...Prague: Paseka 1993.
*''Josef Váchal 1884-1969. Mezi Bohem a Ďáblem''. Smetanova výtvarná Litomyšl 2008.

External links

Czech site about VachalPaseka, Vachal's main publisher after 1989

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vachal, Josef
1884 births
1969 deaths
People from Domažlice District
Czech poets
Czech male poets
Symbolist painters
Czech graphic designers
20th-century Czech painters
Czech male painters
20th-century Czech poets
20th-century male writers
20th-century Czech male artists
Czechoslovak writers
Writers from Austria-Hungary