Julius Eduard Mařák (29 March 1832,
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 ...
– 8 October 1899,
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 landscape painter and graphic designer.
Biography
Mařák's father was an
auditor
An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...
and land registrar. His first painting lessons came while he was still in the
Gymnasium, although he had difficulty deciding between an artistic or a musical career, because several family members were singers and musicians. From 1852 to 1853, he studied at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, under
Max Haushofer, then attended the
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, where his instructors were
Leopold Rottmann and
Eduard Schleich.
From 1855 to 1858, he wandered throughout Bohemia, seeking inspiration, then settled in Vienna. While there, he learned etching, gave drawing lessons,
and provided illustrations for several local magazines. Influences from the
Barbizon school began to appear in his work, although he had never been to France. He later made a tour of the
Balkans
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
and the
Tyrol.
He returned to Prague in 1887 when
Josef Hlávka offered him a professorial post for landscape painting at the Academy. Among his students there were
Otakar Lebeda,
Antonín Slavíček,
František Kaván
František Kaván (10 September 1866, Víchovská Lhota near Jilemnice - 16 December 1941, Libuň near Jičín) was a Czechs, Czech painter and poet.
Kaván studied at the gymnasium in Hradec Králové, which he finished in 1888. During 1889 to ...
and
Alois Kalvoda, who formed what became known as the ''Mařákova krajinářská škola'' (Mařák Landscape School). In 1893, he became seriously ill and had to rely on the help of his students to complete his commissions.
Among his major commissions were decorations for the new
National Theater in Prague and paintings for the staircase of the
National Museum. He also created a group of sketches, for
Goupil & Cie publishing, depicting the four seasons and the four times of day.
They were made into a series of popular engravings by Eduard Willmann (1820–1877) of
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...
.
His daughter,
Josefina, also became a painter, but died premature.
Selected paintings
Marak web1.jpg, Morning Song (1877)
22 big.jpg, Forest Still Life (c.1865)
Marak28.jpg, Rocks
Marak037.jpg, On the Edge
of the Forest
Julius Mařák - les.jpg, Forest
References
Further reading
*Naděžda Blažíčková-Horová: ''Julius Mařák a jeho žáci'' (), Národní galerie (exhibition catalog), Prague, 1999
External links
Works relating to Julius Mařák@ the
Czech National LibraryCycle of paintings for the hallway of the Royal Lodgeat
Czech Television
Czech Television ( ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting six channels. Established after breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslovak Television founded in 1953.
H ...
, hosted by Monika Sybolová
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marak, Julius
Czech graphic designers
1832 births
1899 deaths
Landscape painters from Austria-Hungary
19th-century Czech painters
Czech male painters
People from Litomyšl
19th-century Czech male artists