Bohumil Kubišta
Woman with Stroller
Artist
Bohumil Kubišta
(1884, Vlčkovice - 1918, Praha), Czech
Original Title
Woman with Stroller
Date1908
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions 50 × 66 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionBohumil Kubišta was a prominent Czech modernist painter whose work is defined by an almost scientific approach to stylistic forms and by an emphasis on the internal emotional and spiritual charge of his paintings. Kubišta’s early work, linked to his membership in the art group Osma (1907–1908), was shaped by experimentation and influences of various styles ranging from classical art to modern French art and the generational impact of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. Following the Osma group’s first exhibition in 1907, Kubišta became profoundly interested in color and its complementary relationships, symbolisms, psychological impacts, and ability to define pictorial forms. Two journeys to Paris (April–June 1909; December 1909–June 1910) familiarized Kubišta with the contemporary currents of the French art scene. His subsequent works are marked by a distinctive exploration of painterly composition and the geometrization of shapes. This focus was already present in some of his paintings from the latter half of 1909, influenced by artists such as El Greco, Paul Cézanne, André Derain, Othon Friseze, and Georges Braque. From 1910 onward, he was also influenced by gothic art the protocubist and analytical paintings of Pablo Picasso, which he saw at an exhibition at Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler’s art shop in Paris. While Kubišta only rarely veered toward a cubist aesthetic, but encountering it opened him up to a liberated interpretation of reality incorporating, alongside other influences, the contemporary currents of futurism. His paintings also betray the fundamentally expressionist grounding of his work and an ever-present emphasis on spirituality. Kubišta’s original approaches to contemporary artistic questions were profoundly shaped by the conceptual milieu of Central Europe. His late works, created between 1914 and 1919, were strongly impacted by his military conscription; during this time, he moved away from cubist and futurist tendencies, exploring instead new possibilities of deconstructing and recomposing pictorial reality. In terms of content, newly emergent themes are the unity of humans and the cosmos as well as questions of ephemerality and the inevitability of fate.
This painting titled Woman with Stroller (1908) was most probably exhibited at the Osma group’s second exhibition at the Topič Salon in Prague in 1908, under the title Home. Alongside the associated painting Interior (National Gallery Prague), it offers a different view of the same room and betrays the strong influence of Vincent van Gogh on Kubišta’s work at the time. The painting’s expressiveness is also linked to a system of eye-catching complementary colors as well as to thick layers of paint, noticeable brushstrokes, and an infusion of color with light. The paint is distributed in a way which seeks to portray shape via color and rejects conventional modelling techniques based on light and shadow. Apart from purely formalist questions, Kubišta was also interested in the contentual dimensions of painting. The modest interior and the emphasis on the intimate mutual contact between the woman and the child demonstrate Kubišta’s contemporary aim to develop new possibilities of painterly representation focused on existentialist questions from the life of his closes people.
Bohumil Kubišta (1884, Vlčkovice u Hradce Králové – 1918, Prague) shortly studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, before transferring to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where he studied under Vlaho Bukovac; however, he was expelled in 1905. During a study-oriented visit to Florence (1906–1907) he studied at the Reale Instituto di Belle Arti di Firenze and explored the city’s rich collections of classical art. Kubišta displayed his work at both exhibitions of the Osma art group (1907, 1908), which connected young Czech artists with their peers from the German-Jewish community. Kubišta’s two stays in Paris (1909 and 1909–1910) had a momentous impact on his practice, allowing him to discover the French environment and develop numerous ties which allowed him to take part in organizing the Prague-based exhibition Nezávislí (1910), which presented contemporary artistic tendencies of the Parisian scene. Kubišta’s strong intellectual capabilities also led him to formulate a distinctive artistic program as well as astute reflections on the work of other artists. During his life, he did not exhibit much on the Czech scene, but in the years leading up to World War I his work was regularly shown at exhibitions in Germany. He took part in four exhibitions of the Neue Secession in Berlin, as well as in some of their travelling exhibitions. From 1911 onward, he was a so-called passive member of the Die Brücke art group. Together with artists from the Group of Fine Artists, Kubišta exhibited at the largescale 1912 international exhibition of the Sonderbund group in Cologne. In 1913, his work was featured in the extensive Exhibition of Futurists and Expressionists in Budapest and the exhibition Futurists, Cubists, and Expressionists in Lvov. In Prague, his work was displayed at the 45th exhibition of the Mánes Union of Fine Artists, titled Modern Art (1914) and curated by French critic and poet Alexandre Mercereau. In April 1913, Kubišta’s financial situation led him to enroll in the army, and the period of his life between 1914 and 1918 is thus marked by intensive military service. Shortly after returning to Prague in 1918, Kubišta died of the Spanish flu. His work was subsequently displayed—and situated within the context of Czech modernism—at exhibitions in Czechoslovakia and abroad. After World War I, his legacy inspired the young generation of artists, and particularly the Devětsil Artistic Federation. Apart from contributions to the legacies of Czech expressionism and cubism work, Kubišta’s art also played an important role in reviving the tradition of Czech modernism during the late 1950s. Momentous contributions to the appreciation of his work occurred recently in the form of books (Bohumil Kubišta and Europe, Prague, Academia 2020) and numerous exhibitions: Scream, Mouth! Preconditions of Expressionism, Prague City Gallery – Municipal Library, Prague, 2006–2007; Quarrels of Maturity: Facets of modernity at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, 1890–1918, Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava, 2008; Radiant Crystal: Bohumil Kubišta and Czech Art 1905–2013: Intersections, Clashes, Overlaps, Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava, 2014; Rembrandt’s Tram: Cubism, Tradition, and “Different” Art, Gallery of Western Bohemia in Pilsen, 2015; Years of Disarray 1908–1928: Avantgardes in Central Europe, Olomouc Museum of Art, 2018; Kubišta–Filla: A Pilsen Disputation, Gallery of Western Bohemia in Pilsen, Meat Market Exhibition Hall, Pilsen, 2019.
This painting titled Woman with Stroller (1908) was most probably exhibited at the Osma group’s second exhibition at the Topič Salon in Prague in 1908, under the title Home. Alongside the associated painting Interior (National Gallery Prague), it offers a different view of the same room and betrays the strong influence of Vincent van Gogh on Kubišta’s work at the time. The painting’s expressiveness is also linked to a system of eye-catching complementary colors as well as to thick layers of paint, noticeable brushstrokes, and an infusion of color with light. The paint is distributed in a way which seeks to portray shape via color and rejects conventional modelling techniques based on light and shadow. Apart from purely formalist questions, Kubišta was also interested in the contentual dimensions of painting. The modest interior and the emphasis on the intimate mutual contact between the woman and the child demonstrate Kubišta’s contemporary aim to develop new possibilities of painterly representation focused on existentialist questions from the life of his closes people.
Bohumil Kubišta (1884, Vlčkovice u Hradce Králové – 1918, Prague) shortly studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, before transferring to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where he studied under Vlaho Bukovac; however, he was expelled in 1905. During a study-oriented visit to Florence (1906–1907) he studied at the Reale Instituto di Belle Arti di Firenze and explored the city’s rich collections of classical art. Kubišta displayed his work at both exhibitions of the Osma art group (1907, 1908), which connected young Czech artists with their peers from the German-Jewish community. Kubišta’s two stays in Paris (1909 and 1909–1910) had a momentous impact on his practice, allowing him to discover the French environment and develop numerous ties which allowed him to take part in organizing the Prague-based exhibition Nezávislí (1910), which presented contemporary artistic tendencies of the Parisian scene. Kubišta’s strong intellectual capabilities also led him to formulate a distinctive artistic program as well as astute reflections on the work of other artists. During his life, he did not exhibit much on the Czech scene, but in the years leading up to World War I his work was regularly shown at exhibitions in Germany. He took part in four exhibitions of the Neue Secession in Berlin, as well as in some of their travelling exhibitions. From 1911 onward, he was a so-called passive member of the Die Brücke art group. Together with artists from the Group of Fine Artists, Kubišta exhibited at the largescale 1912 international exhibition of the Sonderbund group in Cologne. In 1913, his work was featured in the extensive Exhibition of Futurists and Expressionists in Budapest and the exhibition Futurists, Cubists, and Expressionists in Lvov. In Prague, his work was displayed at the 45th exhibition of the Mánes Union of Fine Artists, titled Modern Art (1914) and curated by French critic and poet Alexandre Mercereau. In April 1913, Kubišta’s financial situation led him to enroll in the army, and the period of his life between 1914 and 1918 is thus marked by intensive military service. Shortly after returning to Prague in 1918, Kubišta died of the Spanish flu. His work was subsequently displayed—and situated within the context of Czech modernism—at exhibitions in Czechoslovakia and abroad. After World War I, his legacy inspired the young generation of artists, and particularly the Devětsil Artistic Federation. Apart from contributions to the legacies of Czech expressionism and cubism work, Kubišta’s art also played an important role in reviving the tradition of Czech modernism during the late 1950s. Momentous contributions to the appreciation of his work occurred recently in the form of books (Bohumil Kubišta and Europe, Prague, Academia 2020) and numerous exhibitions: Scream, Mouth! Preconditions of Expressionism, Prague City Gallery – Municipal Library, Prague, 2006–2007; Quarrels of Maturity: Facets of modernity at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, 1890–1918, Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava, 2008; Radiant Crystal: Bohumil Kubišta and Czech Art 1905–2013: Intersections, Clashes, Overlaps, Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava, 2014; Rembrandt’s Tram: Cubism, Tradition, and “Different” Art, Gallery of Western Bohemia in Pilsen, 2015; Years of Disarray 1908–1928: Avantgardes in Central Europe, Olomouc Museum of Art, 2018; Kubišta–Filla: A Pilsen Disputation, Gallery of Western Bohemia in Pilsen, Meat Market Exhibition Hall, Pilsen, 2019.
