Václav Boštík

The painter, graphic artist, typographer, restorer, art theoretician and poet Václav Boštík is one of the most significant personalities in Czech art of the 20th century. He was born in the so-called Ležákova Mlýn – a place of historic interest since the 15th century and made famous by the peasant rebel Lukáš Pakosta. Boštík's father, the miller Václav Boštík senior, was a great lover of literature and music. He was also a skilful photographer and painter, something that the painter Ferdinand Engelmüller noticed, subsequently offering him the chance of an education in art. The miller's brother František (a Catholic priest and grammar school professor in Chotěboř) and his second son Jan, who inherited the mill from his father, also both displayed artistic talent.

Václav Boštík attended Litomyšl grammar school from 1925 to 1933. Between 1933 and 1937 he studied for a professorship in drawing and descriptive geometry in Prague at the University of Architecture and Structural Engineering at the Czech Technical University (he was taught by the likes of Cyril Bouda, Oldřich Blažíček and Zdeněk Wirth) and also at the Faculty of Science at Charles University, where he attended lectures by the mathematician Vojtěch Jarník and the philosopher Emanuel Rádl. In 1937, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, spending the academic year 1937/38 at a general course lead by Jakub Obrovský, and later studying at Willi Nowak's studio up to November 1939 (when the Czech universities were closed by the Nazis). He continued with his studies from July to September in 1945 at Vladimír Pukla´s graphic arts school, taking his final exams on June 6th 1946. He gave up attempts at studying at the fore-mentioned university due to a lack of finances.

A devout, practicing Catholic for his entire life, employee of the Laboratory for Research into Higher Nervous Activity at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, member of Umělecká Beseda and UB 12, a troublesome figure for the Communist regime (especially during the so-called “Normalization period”, Boštík was a prolific artist. His work includes for example, the stage curtain for the Lidový Dům in Poříčí (1939), designs for the stained glass windows of Saint John the Baptist Chapel in Saint Vitus Cathedral (1940, not carried out), the altar picture at the Cathedral of the Divine Saviour in Ostrava (1951-1954, with the architect Jaroslav Čermák, Jiří Mrázek and Adriena Šimotová), the names of 77,298 Czech and Moravian Holocaust victims on the wall of Pinkas Synagogue in Prague (1954-1959, with Jiří John), decoration of the departures lounge of Prague-Ruzyně airport (1961-1962) and the restoration of the sgraffito facade of Litomyšl Chateau (1974-1986). His early work did not deviate from that of conventional realistic schemes. However, he subsequently went his own way and in the 1950s, after several twists and turns, achieved, much like Joan Miro, his own specific, extremely simplified style. In the early 1960s, he abandoned this distinct expression and, right up to the later stage of his life, created artwork depicting cosmogenic processes, cosmic structures and force fields. The surface of his canvas became an analogy of space, and he viewed painting almost as a scientific experiment. It is said that his resulting abstract work uncovers the reality hitherto eluding the gaze of the general onlooker. A perceiving public convinced themselves of this fact in 2013 in Litomyšl when viewing an excellent exhibition entitled: Seeking the Lost Paradise – Václav Boštík (1913-2005), prepared by Jaromír Zemina.

After 1989, Boštík´s work was finally officially recognised as a significant cultural contribution, and the artist was awarded several prizes: in 1991 he was awarded the Order of Art and Literature by the French Minister of Culture, in 2000 he became an honorary citizen of Litomyšl, in 2004 the President of the Czech Republic awarded him the Medal of Merit (1st grade) and in the same year, Boštík received the Ministry of Culture Award for contributions to the field of art.

1935
At the Gazebo near the Mill
Private collection

1937
Melancholy
Private collection

Self-portrait
Town Gallery Litomyšl

1938
Crucifixion
Private collection

Early 1940s
Still Life with Pipe and glass
Private collection

1945
Piarist Church in Litomyšl
Private collection

1947
Black Head
Private collection

1954
Skull VI
National Gallery

1959
Ancient Warrior
Private collection

1963
Gathering
Private collection

1964
Coloured Architecture
Litomyšl town (gift from the artist 2000)

1967
Furrowing Field
Regional Gallery in Liberec

1969
Turning II
National Gallery

1970
Picture of Field
Gallery of Fine Art in Cheb

1973
Furrowing
Benedikt Rejt Gallery in Louny

1974–1975
Wrinkling
Private collection

1980
Creation I–IV
Private collection

1989
Heavenly Jerusalem
Private collection

1989–1990
Spreading Fog
Private collection

1995
Genesis 1/4
Private collection

Shroud of Turin
Gallery of Modern Art in Roudnice nad Labem