The Bohemian art
Švabinský is acknowledged by the European art world a master in his line; England especially valued his wonderful works in art. His portraits mirror the soul and character of the great men they represent; they mirror their endeavor and work which made them great. His masterly portrait of our great composer Bedřich Smetana, his portraits of Rieger, Masaryk, Aleš, Manes, Neruda, and a great line of others are the most perfect of all that have ever been produced by the brush of Bohemian portrait painters. Švabinský excelled also as a master of color. One of his gěnre canvases, a great work of art, was bought for America. It was the painting named “At the Loom”, but most unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire at the recent earthquake in San Francisco, an irreparable loss to the art world.
A unique place among Bohemian artists is held by František Kupka and Emil Holárek. Their life, like all of their art, is consecrated to the struggle for truth and democracy. Kupka’s brush flays European art of the present day while Holárek’s work assails the lust for gold, brutal militarism and mercenary ecclesiasticism. Today two unconquerable social forces, capital and the state and its church under military organization are waging a great struggle against the people who physically, mentally and materially bear the world on their shoulders. Kupka and Holárek stand unquestionably on the side of democracy. Kupka, in all his activity in art circles, in all his daring sketches, a master of penetrating satire, attacks social immorality, hypocrisy, the selfishness and greed of capital, and religious phariseism. His cartoons aroused great interest in art circles of Paris, and Elisé Reklus requested Kupka to illustrate his famous work “The Man and the Earth.” When the present war broke out he lived in Paris. Though a Bohemian and a stranger, he went to France to fight with his sword in the struggle for democracy. His most noted works in art are his cycli: “Money” “Religion” “Peace” and “Defiance.”
Beside Kupka stands the humanitarian philosopher, Emil Holárek. His art work is not as daring as Kupka’s, It is more Slavic in that it is gentler, softer. He draws his inspiration from history and from the humanitarian
