Oldřich Lajsek (Czech pronunciation: lai•sek) (8 February 1925 – 2 October 2001) was a Czech painter, designer, graphic artist and teacher of arts. He became a member of the Union of Czechoslovak Creative Artists in 1954. He was the head of an artistic society named The Group of Eight Artists. In 1985, he was awarded the national honor For Excellent Work. During his life, he created over 3000 productions of which more than 1800 went to private collections.

Life

Lajsek was born on 8 February 1925 in

Křesetice Křesetice is a municipality and village in Kutná Hora District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 700 inhabitants. Administrative division Křesetice consists of four municipal parts (in brackets population accord ...

, a village near

Kutná Hora Kutná Hora (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 22,000 inhabitants. The history of Kutná Hora is linked to silver mining, which made it a rich and rapidly developing town. The centre of Kutná Hora, i ...

in the central

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

(

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

) in a merchant family. In 1944, he graduated from a machinery industrial high school in

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he took part in a rebellious organization "The Fist", where he fought against the

Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

. After

, he moved to

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 ...

, where he worked in the Czechoslovak Union of Industry. Beginning in 1946, he studied at the

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

. During this time, Lajsek discovered his artistic talent, and he graduated in 1950. In 1966 he also graduated with degree in economy. Then he worked as a teacher. He was also a professor at the School of Applied Arts in Prague beginning in 1955. Lajsek achieved success in his artistic career quite early. In 1955, he was accepted into the Štursa society, and later to the VI Center. He took part in a competition for renovation of premises of the

National Theatre (Prague) The National Theatre () is a historic opera house in Prague, Czech Republic. It is known as the alma mater of Czech opera, and as the national monument of Czech history and art. The National Theatre belongs to the most important Czech cultural ...

. Since 1954, he had been a member of the Union of Czechoslovak Creative Artists. In 1960, he established an artistic society named "The Group of Eight Artists", in which he acted as the head. The aims of this society were mainly to set up educational, artistic events in the countryside and to look for new places where various exhibitions might be held. In 1985, he was awarded by the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of republic with the national honor For Excellent Work. He died on 2 October 2001 in

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, at the age of 76.

Painting

His artistic production was very versatile in genres. He was dedicated to

abstract painting Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *American Realism *Classical Realism *Liter ...

surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

, etc. But his best known production was landscape painting. In this respect, he was one of the best-known painters of his period in

. He inspired himself in his home

Central Bohemian Region The Central Bohemian Region ( ; ) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in the Czech capital Prague, which lies in the centre of the regio ...

or in streets of

, as well as during his abroad journeys to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Famous works

Landscape paintings

* Hořící Lidice (Burning Village of Lidice), 1974; * Ze Stanice metra (From the Underground Station), 1982; * Akropolis (Acropolis), 1983; * Červená krajina (A Red Landscape), 1985; * Jaro, Léto, Podzim, Zima (The Spring, The Summer, The Autumn, The Winter) (set of paintings), 1985.

Abstract paintings

* Bílá (A White Colour), 1957; * Zrcadlo (The Mirror), 1962; * Modrá (A Blue Colour), 1963.

Realism

* Ráno v Praze (A Morning in Prague), 1983; * Slunečnice (Sunflowers), 1971.

Surrealism

* Smutek (The Sorrow), 1959.

Literature

* Boučková, J.: Nové tendence v tvorbě mladých českých výtvarníků. Pardubice: Východočeská galerie v Pardubicích, 1968. * Boučková, J.: Soudobá česká krajina. Pardubice: Východočeská galerie v Pardubicích, 1968. * Hlaváček, J.: 8 výtvarníků. Galerie ČFVU – Purkyně. Praha: Český fond výtvarných umění, 1960, F 151350. * Vinter, V.: Krajiny Oldřicha Lajska. Květy, 5. 2. 1987, str. 46-47. * Vinter, V.: Oldřich Lajsek. Praha: Svaz českých výtvarných umělců, 1986. * Štorkán, K.: Oldřich Lajsek – obrazy. Praha: Podnik českého fondu výtvarných umění, 1981.

External links

* Bibliothek des Kunstgewerbemuseums: http://katalog.upm.cz/cgi-bin/k6?ST=03&L=03&KOD=02&PZ=02&KDE=016&JAK=L&ADR=0019059646 * Online catalogue of paintings of Oldřich Lajsek: https://web.archive.org/web/20140714110514/http://www.phsoft.cz/lajsek.html * Galerie výtvarného umění v Ostravě

* Signatueres of painters: http://www.signaturymaliru.cz/painter/601.php * Východočeská galerie v Pardubicích: http://www.vcg.cz/databaze.html?kat=1&autor=L&PHPSES... {{DEFAULTSORT:Lajsek, Oldrich Czech artists 1925 births 2001 deaths Czechoslovak artists Charles University alumni