František Janoušek
Pilgrim
Artist
František Janoušek
(1890, Jesenné - 1943, Praha), Czech
Original Title
Pilgrim
Date1935
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions62 × 83 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionFrantišek Janoušek was a prominent Czech modernist painter, whose artistic career was cut short by a severe illness. An important influence on Janoušek’s work was his discovery of surrealism. The character of Janoušek’s distinctive surrealist paintings was shaped by his inner expressivity and a dramatic approach to artistic expression, through which he grappled with the socio-political crisis of the 1930s and early 1940s. Accordingly, the main inspiration for his art were not internal, subconscious ideas but rather a conscious, rational representation of phenomena and events from the surrounding world. While his imaginative paintings contain myriad meanings, Janoušek primarily focused on their painterly dimension. He developed his characteristic style in 1929, having spent time in Italy; subsequently, in the early 1930s, he travelled to Paris, and later to Italy again. Influenced by these experiences, he created the Italian Cycle (1930–1932), with subjects portrayed within the environment of Italian cities. The attention to architectural elements betrays the influences of Giorgio de Chirico. However, Janoušek’s painterly style differs in its emphasis on dramatic motion and organic morphologies, which became temporarily supplanted by a more cubist style in 1931. The subsequent period, from 1933 and 1934, saw Janoušek’s paintings evolve toward a more lyrical, contemplative style influenced by the work of Joan Miró and Max Ernst. These canvases are marked by a disruption of the direct relationship between form and meaning. Titles became a vital component of these works, providing at least partial identification of the subjects portrayed. Janoušek’s paintings from 1935 to 1936 are marked by a more dramatic style, influenced by the contemporary zeitgeist and particularly the Spanish Civil War. These works represent the cruelty of humans and nature, drawing parallels between contemporary socio-political developments and dark mythological narratives. The human body, fragmented into agitated, rickety linear forms formed by myriad curves and thin lines, becomes the central motif of these paintings, thus evoking the merging of the human with the natural. The surrounding space is rid of specificity. A new motif in these works is the sea as the symbolic birthplace of life, with its shore inhabited by varied organisms and structures. The unease felt in his paintings escalated during the following years, accompanied by a loosening of his painterly style which further intensifies the expressivity of his work. With the outbreak of the war, Janoušek became further focused on the topic of humans and their dramatic fate. This final period of his career is characterized by a fusion of mythological allusions with direct references to war, conceived as a portrayal of perpetual human suffering.
Pilgrim (1935) exemplifies Janoušek’s work from the mid-1930s, when his style evolved toward a more contemplative tone. The linear painterly morphology and the combination of different organic elements leads us into the realm of imagination and mythology, where human and natural elements cannot be distinguished. This imagery is anchored by the painting’s title, referring to the motif of the artist-pilgrim, which represents Janoušek’s reflection on human fate.
František Janoušek (1890, Jesenný – 1943, Prague) briefly fought in World War I, before studying under Vojtěch Hynais at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague from 1919 to 1922. He subsequently travelled to study in Vienna and Germany. During the early 1930s, he visited Paris and Italy, which influenced his espousal of surrealism. Janoušek was a member of the Mánes Union of Fine Artists, regularly taking part in its group exhibitions throughout the 1930s. His work also featured in the international exhibition Poesie 1932 at Prague’s Mánes Exhibition Hall, which announced the arrival of surrealism on the Czech art scene. In 1935, the Mánes Union organized a solo exhibition of Janoušek’s work. From 1939 to 1942, Janoušek, Vladimír Sychora and Vojtěch Tittlebach led the Mánes Painting School, which aimed to support artists unable to exhibit and sell their works during the war. Following his untimely death from cancer in 1943, a posthumous exhibition of his work took place at the Mánes Exhibition Hall in Prague between 1947 and 1948. His work also featured in the 2018 exhibition 1918–1938: The First Republic at the National Gallery Prague (2018–2022), which presented a layered view of art in inter-war Czechoslovakia. The exhibition The Man with a Burning Mane: Emil Filla and Surrealism 1931–1939 (Museum Kampa, Prague, 2017–2018) further situated Janoušek’s art within the context Czech surrealism. His work is included in the collections of the National Gallery Prague, the Moravian Gallery in Brno, and the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou, as well as, for instance, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź.
Pilgrim (1935) exemplifies Janoušek’s work from the mid-1930s, when his style evolved toward a more contemplative tone. The linear painterly morphology and the combination of different organic elements leads us into the realm of imagination and mythology, where human and natural elements cannot be distinguished. This imagery is anchored by the painting’s title, referring to the motif of the artist-pilgrim, which represents Janoušek’s reflection on human fate.
František Janoušek (1890, Jesenný – 1943, Prague) briefly fought in World War I, before studying under Vojtěch Hynais at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague from 1919 to 1922. He subsequently travelled to study in Vienna and Germany. During the early 1930s, he visited Paris and Italy, which influenced his espousal of surrealism. Janoušek was a member of the Mánes Union of Fine Artists, regularly taking part in its group exhibitions throughout the 1930s. His work also featured in the international exhibition Poesie 1932 at Prague’s Mánes Exhibition Hall, which announced the arrival of surrealism on the Czech art scene. In 1935, the Mánes Union organized a solo exhibition of Janoušek’s work. From 1939 to 1942, Janoušek, Vladimír Sychora and Vojtěch Tittlebach led the Mánes Painting School, which aimed to support artists unable to exhibit and sell their works during the war. Following his untimely death from cancer in 1943, a posthumous exhibition of his work took place at the Mánes Exhibition Hall in Prague between 1947 and 1948. His work also featured in the 2018 exhibition 1918–1938: The First Republic at the National Gallery Prague (2018–2022), which presented a layered view of art in inter-war Czechoslovakia. The exhibition The Man with a Burning Mane: Emil Filla and Surrealism 1931–1939 (Museum Kampa, Prague, 2017–2018) further situated Janoušek’s art within the context Czech surrealism. His work is included in the collections of the National Gallery Prague, the Moravian Gallery in Brno, and the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou, as well as, for instance, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź.
