Rudolf Vojtěch Špillar (11 February 1878 – 22 March 1949) was a Czech painter and photographer. He wrote several manuals on the subject.

Life and work

Špillar was born on 11 February 1878 in

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

. His father was a financial officer for the city of Plzeň. His brothers,

Jaroslav Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. Its feminine form is Jaroslava. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that origi ...

and

Karel Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley (born 1962), American talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel (1921–2006), Dutch painter and sculptor Business * Karel Elec ...

also became painters. After completing his primary education, he found a position as a civil servant and worked as an amateur photographer; one of the first to practice

pictorialism Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer ha ...

. In 1908, together with a professional photographer named Jan Špriňar, he wrote a ''Compendium of Practical Photography for Amateurs''. It became very popular throughout

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

and was reissued in several new editions after the establishment of

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 1918, he began writing ''The Science of Photography'',Jindra Imluaf: ''Vyvíjení pozvolné a časové'', Central Publishing House, 1918, Foreword by R. Špillar
Online
which included contributions by Jindra Imlauf (1881–1921) and . He often stayed at Jaroslav's villa in Pec, and his death in 1917 may have prompted Rudolf to enter a special school, operated by at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Prague The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (; AVU) is an art college in Prague, Czech Republic. Founded in 1799, it is the oldest art college in the country. The school offers twelve master's degree programs and one doctoral program. History Starting ...

, which he attended until 1923. After that, he undertook several study trips to Germany, France and Italy. He came to specialize in

still-life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, ...

s, nudes, portraits and landscapes. Despite becoming quite proficient, he remained mostly an amateur as a painter, although he exhibited regularly at the Rubeš Gallery. His total output was, as might be expected, rather small. He died on 22 March 1949 in

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 ...

at the age of 71 and was interred at the

Vinohrady Cemetery Vinohrady Cemetery () is a large cemetery in Vinohrady in Prague 10 which contains Strašnice Crematorium. It is the second largest cemetery in Prague and is registered in the state list of cultural monuments. The remains of two Czech presidents ...

. Many of his works may be seen at the in

Domažlice Domažlice (; ) is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservations, urban monument reser ...

References

External links

Works by and about Rudolf Vojtěch Špillar
@ the

National Library of the Czech Republic The National Library of the Czech Republic () is the central library of the Czech Republic. It is directed by the Ministry of Culture (Czech Republic), Ministry of Culture. The library's main building is located in the historical Clementinum buil ...

Entry on Rudolf Vojtěch Špillar
@ AbART {{DEFAULTSORT:Spillar, Rudolf Vojtech 1878 births 1949 deaths Czech painters Czech photographers Czech landscape painters Czech portrait painters Czech still life painters Artists from Plzeň Writers from Austria-Hungary