František Kobliha ( 17. 11. 1877 in Prague - 12. 12. 1962 Prague ) painter, graphic artist

He studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (1896 - 1899) and with F. Zenisek at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Besides J. Zrzavy, J. Konupek and J. Vachal, he is one of the most important representatives of the second generation of Czech symbolists. He is referred to as an autodidact as a graphic designer. From 1901 his work regularly appeared in the Golden Prague magazine, he entered the artistic consciousness in 1910 in Brno at the first exhibition of members of the Sursum ( 1910 - 1912 ) and became its first chairman. The work was fundamentally influenced by poetry ( K. H. Macha, V. Nezval, K. Hlavacek), classical works and world symbolist literature, and above all, cooperation with A. Prochazka's Modern Revue. He regularly published graphic works, later he also wrote critics, papers and essays. Among the graphic techniques he liked wood engraving, etching and lithography, elaborated by a miniature technique. He created his own unmistakable style, typical of dreamy, melancholic visions. In some graphic sheets from 1909 - 1910 (Tristan, Revenge Cantilena), a symbolist expression blends with Art Nouveau morphology. He later applied his sense of decorative art in book and applied graphics. In 1911, woodcut cycles were created filled with melancholy, cosmic visions and erotic dreaming (Woman, Woman of My Dreams), later drawing inspiration from fairy tales and folk legends. The fairy-tale imagination was replaced by bitter disillusionment and a feeling of loneliness, hopelessness and death (The Ballads). At the turn of the 1920s more often turned to reality, to nature. The basic element of his book illustrations is a plant ornament with a floral background, and he also devotes himself to ex-libris, in which he returns to Prague's motives. He decorated many private prints with graphics. The artistic focus of his work lies in the early cycles from 1909 - 1916. Since 1923 he was a member of the Hollar Association of Czech Graphic Artists, he was on the editorial board of the Hollar magazine, where he published essays on leading personalities of Czech and world symbolist graphics. Represented in the collections of the NG Prague, GHMP and the Museum of National Literature in Prague
Solo exhibitions (selection)
1917 - Prague, Rudolfinum, Collection of Prints, 1943 - Prague, Poš Gallery, Flowers and Ballads, 1970 - Prague, Hollar, Selection of Graphics, 1973 - Hradec Králové, Selection of Lifetime Works
Collective exhibitions
1910 - Brno, 1st exhibition Sursum, 1922 - Cleveland, Musem of Art, 1923 - 1943 member exhibition Hollar, 1928 - Venice, 16th Biennial, 1931 - Tokyo, exhibition Hollar