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Zdenek Rykr (26 October 1900 – 15 January 1940) was a Czechoslovak painter, illustrator, journalist, and theater designer.


Life

Zdenek Rykr was born in the
Chotěboř Chotěboř (; ) is a town in Havlíčkův Brod District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,100 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zon ...
train station. When he was seven his family moved to
Kolín Kolín (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservations, urban monume ...
, where his father, a railway inspector, had been transferred. This is where he spent his childhood and student years. After graduating from the grammar school he was not accepted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and so he chose to study Art History and Classical archaeology at the faculty of philosophy, where he completed a doctorate in 1924. Despite the knowledge he accumulated during his studies, his artistic abilities were self-taught. At the beginning his artwork is mostly paintings, and subsequently evolves into graphic design. In 2016, film director Andrea Culková released ''H*art On'', a documentary about the lives of Zdenek Rykr and his wife, Milada Součková. In the film, Součková is portrayed by Czech musical artist
Sonja Vectomov Sonja Vectomov (born 21 May 1979) is a Czech- Finnish electronic musician and composer who descends from a family rooted in the classical music world.Poncar, M."Sonja Vectomov právě vydala album ''Lamprophrenia''" Techno.cz, Sep 26, 2016. Vec ...
.Institute of Documentary Film
''HART*ON''
Czech Republic, France, 2016.


Work

In 1925, Rykr illustrated Emil Vachek’s ''Bidýlko,'' and from 1925 to 1927 he was a theater designer at 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 ...
. In parallel, he worked as a graphic designer for advertising, for example for the Baťa company. His designs for the Maršner chocolate company, for which he created the blue Orion star for the Kofila chocolate wrapper, are still famous today. He also created designs for the Kolín oil refinery, Kulík coffee, Čedok and �koda Auto His art gradually strayed from the realism of his early paintings, and from the 1930s he focused on the creation of assemblages and collages, which foreshadowed his work of the 1960s. He got inspired by his numerous travels across the globe, and was strongly influenced by
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 ...
and Oriental
Calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...
. In the 1920s he also worked as a journalist, contributed to the creation of the satiric magazine ''Trh'', authored pamphlets, and in 1930-31 edited the magazine ''Domov a svět''. His pointed criticism and controversial opinions made him an unpopular figure in the 1920s and 30s. He is associated with the
Devětsil The Devětsil () was an association of Czech people, Czech avant-garde artists, founded in 1920 in Prague. From 1923 on there was also an active group in Brno. The movement discontinued its activities in 1930 (1927 in Brno). History Founded as Um ...
generation of avant-garde artists rather as an outsider or lone wolf. He tried on many styles, which he quickly discarded as worthless. His generation saw him as a disjointed eclectic or as the dark conscience of the avant-garde. At first he exhibited as a guest with the Tvrdošíjni group of painters, and later had several solo shows and even exhibited his work at the ociété des Artistes Indépendants Salon des indépendants in Paris where unlike in his native country it was a great success. To avoid the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
he took his own life by throwing himself under a train in the Barrandov section of Prague on 15 January 1940. His wife, Milada Součková (1898–1983) was a Czech writer, literary historian, and diplomat, known for introducing Modernist techniques to Czech literature.


Bibliography

# LAHODA, Vojtěch. Zdenek Rykr 1900-1940. Praha : Galerie hlavního města Prahy, 2000. 377 s. (in Czech). # URBAN, Jiří. Zdenek Rykr : Výběr z malířského díla. Roudnice nad Labem : Galerie Roudnice nad Labem, 1983. 24 s.


References


External links


List of works in the database of the Czech National Library, whose author or topic is Zdenek Rykr
* Zdenek Rykr in the archive 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 ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rykr, Zdenek 1900 births 1940 deaths Czechoslovak graphic designers Czechoslovak scenic designers Czechoslovak painters Suicides by train 1940 suicides Suicides in Czechoslovakia