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Vaclav Vytlacil
"Classic Maiden"

1954

$87,000
£65,417
€75,964.99
CA$121,493.67
A$134,745.48
CHF 70,761.72
MX$1,654,770.28
NOK 895,776.17
SEK 844,728.93
DKK 566,782.38
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About the Item

Signed & Dated LR Vaclav Vytlacil (Vas-lav Vit-la-chil) was born in New York City in 1892 to Czech parents, but was raised in Chicago. He was an artist since boyhood, becoming the youngest student to enroll in the Art Institute of Chicago in 1906. There he earned a scholarship to The Art Students League in New York in 1913. He studied at the League for three years under John C. Johansen and Anders Zorn. In 1916, Vytlacil accepted an invitation to teach at the Minneapolis School of Art where he remained for four years. At the age of 29, and at the crossroads in his painting career, Vyt (a name affectionately given) decided it was time for “the European experience” It was believed by most artists at the time that Europe offered many more superior values in art, and with a strong desire to investigate the art of Cezanne, Vyt left the US for Europe in 1922. He headed to Paris where he befriended fellow painters and had his eyes opened to a whole new world of art. In Vyt’s words, “Many shattering experiences brought home to me that I knew practically nothing about painting. Or in other words, what I did know, did not amount to much!” He next went to Munich where along with new found American artist friends, Worth Ryder and Ernest Thurn, Vyt studied under (relatively unknown teacher and artist at the time) Hans Hoffman. Now Modernism was the focus of Vyt’s art, quite a change from his previous more academic teachings. The traditions being exercised by Picasso, Braque, and Cezanne among other French Modernists were greatly influenced through Hofmann’s tutelage. Vyt continued to travel and paint throughout Europe, Mexico, Jamaica, Monhegan, Martha’s Vineyard, California, Colorado and New York. In the 1950s, abstract expressionists like De Kooning and Pollock reverted to figural representations of women. Vaclav Vytlacil did as well, however his figures suggested more similarities to Picasso who also shared the more representational classical elements as opposed to pure abstraction
  • Creator:
    Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1954
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 64 in (162.56 cm)Width: 32 in (81.28 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Ashley John is proud to offer this artwork by: Vaclav Vytlacil (1892 - 1984).
  • Gallery Location:
    Lambertville, NJ
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 108V1stDibs: G130309157105

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"Figure Composition"
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Located in Lambertville, NJ
Signed Lower Right Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to New York when he was 20. From 1913 to 1916, he enjoyed a scholarship from the Art Students League, and worked with John C. Johansen (a portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent), and Anders Zorn. He accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art in 1916, remaining there until 1921. This enabled him to travel to Europe to study Cézanne’s paintings and works of the Old Masters. He traveled to Paris, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Munich seeking the works of Titian, Cranach, Rembrandt, Veronese, and Holbein, which gave him new perspective. Vytlacil studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, settling there in 1921. Fellow students were Ernest Thurn and Worth Ryder, who introduced him to famous abstractionist Hans Hofmann. He worked with Hofmann from about 1922 to 1926, as a student and teaching assistant. During the summer of 1928, after returning to the United States, Vytlacil gave lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on modern European art. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Art Students League faculty. After one year, he returned to Europe and successfully persuaded Hofmann to teach at the League as well. He spent about six years in Europe, studying the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Dufy. In 1935, he returned to New York and became a co-founder of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He later had teaching posts at Queens College in New York; the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California; Black Mountain College in North Carolina; and the Art Students League. His paintings exhibit a clear inclination toward modernism. His still lives and interiors from the 1920s indicate an understanding of the art of Cézanne. In the 1930s, his works displayed two very different kinds of art at the same time. His cityscapes and landscapes combine Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. Vytlacil also used old wood, metal, cork, and string in constructions, influenced by his friend and former student, Rupert Turnbull. He eventually ceased creating constructions as he considered them too limiting. The spatial challenges of painting were still his preference. During the 1940s and 1950s, his works indicated a sense of spontaneity not felt in his earlier work. He married Elizabeth Foster in Florence, Italy, in 1927 and they lived and worked in Positano, Italy for extended periods of time. Later on, they divided their time between homes in Sparkill, New York and Chilmark, Massachusetts, where Vyt, as he was affectionately called, taught at the Martha's Vineyard Art...
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"Fish Cleaners"
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"Circus Act"
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"Modern Industry"
By Joseph Meierhans
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Signed lower right
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