Frantisek Libal (23. 4. 1896 in Veseli nad Luznici - 20. 6. 1974 in Prague) painter

He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under prof. Vlaho Bukovac and Max Pirner in the years 1960 - 1920. In 1921 he went to Munich, Dresden and Frankfurt am Main to study, then stayed in Paris from 1925 to 1926. He created a cycle of paintings on the theme Wind on the Mud between 1916 and 1919, and soon devoted himself to painting architecture - especially paintings with the theme of the cathedral in Cologne, Paris, Reims, Rouen, Le Havre, Milan, Venice, Marseille and others. This creates a whole cycle of views of individual temples in a variety of lighting. He returns home and his subjects become realistic mountain landscapes, views of Prague, still life and portraits. He paints the beauty of the Giant Mountains, the Tatras, the Bohemian Forest, the Wallachia, the Beskids and especially the beloved South Bohemia with its ponds and mud. He worked with a color spot smeared by the elongated motion of a wide brush or a paint spatula. He often combined oil and tempera. He has exhibited annually since 1922 with the Union of Artists of Fine Arts in Prague, also with Krasoumna jednota, collectively in 1926 at the Topic Salon in Prague and in 1927 in Kosice, also in many other Czech and Slovak cities. He has also exhibited frequently abroad - Oslo, Vienna, Copenhagen, Bergen, Frankfurt am Main.