Among the younger men, Otokar Španiel, after being trained under Myslbek, followed the example of Mařatka, Kafka and the rest, and went to finish his apprenticeship in Paris. He spent seven years there, exhibiting at the Société Nationale and the Autumn Salon. At first he was content with turning out impressionist plaques, in which he carved, in delicate relief, portraits of his contemporaries. They form a whole series, including the astronomer Jules Janssen, the historian Ernest Denis, the youthful Milan Rostislav Štefánik, who has since died gloriously as the first War Minister of liberated Czechoslovakia, the poet Vrchlický and other Czech celebrities. After trying to stress the picturesque effect of relief, he soon recognised that it is the plastic character and the construction of masses that really count. His plaques therefore became bolder in design and more coherent in form. In accordance with this change, we note in Španiel a growing predilection for other forms of sculpture which he had till then neglected. It is in this frame of mind that he produced the bust of the Croatian poet, Ivo Vojnović, the Slovene architect Plečnik, the physiologist Purkyně, the painter Jan Preisler and some others. The Musée du Luxembourg in Paris and the Petit Palais contain specimens of Španiel’s art.
Favourable notice has also been accorded to several remarkable works, in low and high relief, by Ladislav Kofránek and Beneš, artists who have recently resumed activities interrupted by the war.
Mention should also be made of Otto Gutfreund, who in his daring attempts excels in divining the tendencies of modern architecture and adapting them to his own sculpture. Our generation is building great hopes on this close collaboration between the sculptor and the architect.
