- Zustand: **
- Jahr: 2011-11-09
Joža Uprka (1861-1940): Woman in Maize Field, 1910, Joža Uprka Gallery
Joža Uprka (known also as Joža Úprka) (October 26th, 1861, Kněždub - January 12th, 1940, Hroznova Lhota) was a Czech painter and graphic artist. A representative of Romantic historicism and decorative Art Nouveau, he authored paintings documenting the life and habits of peasants in his native south Moravia.
Born into a peasant family, he was a son of farmer and amateur painter Jan Uprka and his second wife Eva née Machalkova. Joža´s younger brother František became a famous sculptor. Joža received elementary education in nearby Stražnice and was admitted to a German school for teachers in Olomouc and later to the Czech-language Slavic Grammar School in the same town. After graduation he took a course with František Čermak at Prague´s Academy of Arts (1881-84). During his further studies at Munich´s Academy of Arts he and other artists (Alfons Mucha, Antonín Slavíček, Pavel Sochaň, Luděk Marold) formed a group called Škréta. As a graduate he came back to Prague in 1887 and in 1888 he settled in his native region. Moravian Slovakia became the source of inspiration for the key part of his work. He painted scenes from the everyday life of peasants, their work, habits and festivities, folk costumes, surrounding landscape.
During his short stay in Paris (1892-93) Uprka studied both Old Masters and contemporary art styles, especially Impressionism. He received a Mention Honorable at the 1893 Paris Salon for his painting Pilgrimage to St Anthony Church (Pouť u svatého Antonínka) and became an internationally renowned artist. His best-known work, Kings´ Ride (Jízda kralů), had two original versions, one Realist and the other one Impressionist.
Uprka married folk painter Anežka Karlíkova from Svatobořice and settled down in Hroznova Lhota near his native village Kněždub where he bought a small cottage and contracted architect Dušan Jurkovič to change it into a larger house. The resulting double-floor building included wooden features inspired by folk architecture and gave Uprka an opportunity to host leading Czech artists, such as Alois and Vilém Mrštík, Hanuš Schwaigr, Zdenka Braunerova, Herbert Masaryk, Leoš Janaček, Vítězslav Novak. French sculptor Auguste Rodin was also one of Uprka´s guests in Hroznova Lhota.
In the end of his Impressionist period (1899-1905) Uprka also did some graphic, mainly etched works. In the Slovak village Kobušice near Ilava, where he lived between 1922 and 1937 in his own mansion with a studio, Uprka sought new inspiration in the Slovak countryside. He visited Dubrovnik in 1928 for a study of the life and costumes of rustic people.
Uprka lived to see several comprehensive exhibitions (Prague, Brno, Hodonín) of his works. He was one of the founders of a Brno art club (Klub přatel umění), co-founded and became the leading figure of a Hodonín-based association of graphic artists in Moravia (Sdružení výtvarných umělců moravských, S.V.U.M.), led an ethnic association called Moravian-Slovak Society (later Ethnic Moravia). In 1925 he was elected president of a Bratislava-based Slovak artists´ association (Sdružení slovenských umělců).
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