Lot 162

Karel Holan (1893 - 1953) A VIEW OF WINTERTIME PRAGUE

Through thick layers of brown and white paint, this masterful painting uniquely and inimitably depicts the fleeting beauty of everyday moments in the Czech capital. Karel Holan was a Czech painter, printmaker, illustrator and teacher. He studied drawing privately under Vácav Beneš and Otakar Nejedlý. In 1913 he entered the Czech Technical University to study architecture, but he never graduated because he was enlisted during World War I and was wounded in action. After he was discharged in 1915, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and studied under professors Maximilián Pirner, Karel Krattner and Vlaho Bukovac. He was a member of Umělecká Beseda and in 1924 he co-founded and later became the spiritual leade of the Ho-Ho-Ko-Ko Social Group. Holan was also a member of the Mánes Union of Fine Artists and Myslbek Union of Fine Artists. His work is represented at the Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava, Prague City Gallery, and Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové.