Josefina Mařáková, known as Pepa (19 March 1872,

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

– 19 June 1907

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) was a Czech painter who specialized in caricatures and figure painting.

Biography

She was born to the Czech landscape painter, Julius Mařák, during a period when he was working in Vienna, and originally spoke only German, although she took an early interest in her Czech heritage. In addition to her father, she received lessons from František Dvořák, Maximilian Pirner and

Václav Brožík Václav Brožík (; 6 March 1851 – 15 April 1901) was a Czech painter who worked in the academic style. Life Brožík was born on 6 March 1851 in Třemošná, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (now the Czech Republic). He came from a poor family, ...

. Her first exhibition came in 1897 with the Fine Arts Union in Prague. She was, however, always in poor health and generally lived in seclusion with her mother. She also helped out in her father's studio and, after his death, briefly had one of her own. She was mainly devoted to creating figurative works in a decadent,

Symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

style, but also produced some portraits of notable personalities, including the painter, Otakar Lebeda, the politician

František Ladislav Rieger František Ladislav Rieger (10 December 1818 – 3 March 1903) was a Czech politician and publicist made famous for his leadership of the early Czech nationalist movement. Early life Rieger was born into the household of a miller in the town of ...

, the family of poet

Adolf Heyduk Adolf Heyduk (6 June 1835 – 6 February 1923) was a distinguished Czech poet and writer, a representative of the May School. He is best known internationally because of his poem cycle ''Gypsy Melodies'' that were set to music by Antonín Dvoř ...

and her father's patron,

Josef Hlávka Josef Hlávka (15 February 183111 March 1908) was a Czech architect, builder, philanthropist and founder of the oldest Czech foundation for sciences and arts. Biography He was the second-born son of Mayor Antonín Hlávka and his wife, Anna né ...

. Much of her work is in private collections, but may also be seen at the

National Gallery in Prague The National Gallery Prague (, 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 Czech and international fine a ...

and the municipal gallery in

Litomyšl Litomyšl (; ) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. It is a former bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see. Litomyšl is known for the château-type castle complex of the Lit ...

Sources

* Veronika Hulíková, ''Pepa Mařák (1872?-1907)'', exhibition bulletin, National Galler

* Pavel Augusta. ''Kdo byl kdo v našich dějinách roku 1918'', Libri, 1999.

External links

Brief biography
@ Art+
Photograph of Pepa with her father, Julius
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marakova, Josefina 1872 births 1907 deaths Czech women painters Symbolist painters Painters from Vienna Painters from Austria-Hungary