A comrade of Slavíček, Antonín Hudeček, in his youth had several artistic points of contact with his friend. Together they would go out into the country and make similar experiments in colour and form. Hudeček however, softer and more poetic, avoided trenchant colours, wove gentle, almost musical harmonies, and seized with a loving hand the inner soul of a landscape. Later, he adopted an almost pointillist style, as more suitable for rendering the subtle transitions of light from hour to hour of the day. Later still, his painting showed a remarkable accession of strength; vigour took the place of delicacy, and his composition became synthetic. The new method resulted in pictures of a virile beauty and wide compass, greatly appreciated abroad, where Hudeček has exhibited a good deal.
Among the younger devotees of impressionism we may mention Oldřich Blažíček, a pupil of Schwaiger, but one who quickly renounced his teacher’s conservative ideals, while applying the solid craftsmanship acquired under his direction. The landscapes he painted were bright, cheerful and sparkling with life. Otokar Nejedlý was a disciple of Slavíček, and long remained loyal to his forceful teacher. But from the very outset such works as “Sunday” and “The Funeral Procession” bore witness to an original talent, a bold temperament and a singular manual dexterity. As an impressionist intoxicated with colour, he went to Italy and Sicily, and later on, eager for sensations, as far as Ceylon and India. The two years spent in the tropics revealed to him plastic mysteries of colour that drove impressionism into the background. Yet he was still unable to throw impressionist processes entirely overboard: on the contrary, he ran through them all, including pointillism. On his return to Bohemia he devoted himself to experiments in synthesis. He now fashioned for himself a style that was to some extent decorative, but did not satisfy him. Accordingly a new crisis
