Jan Zrzavý
Jan Zrzavý (5 November 1890 – 12 October 1977) was a Czech painter, graphic artist and illustrator. • Illustration — Jan Zrzavý in the 1960s
Also recorded as Jan Zrzavy · Jan Zrzavého · Jan Zerzavý · Jan Zrzaveho
Jan Zrzavý
Karel Kuklík · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Born
- 1890
- Died
- 1977
- Nationality
- Cisleithania · Czechoslovakia
- Occupation
- actor · pedagogue · painter · teacher · illustrator · graphic artist · scenographer · poet · writer · university teacher · artist
- Known for
- Cleopatra II
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Jan Zrzavý (5 November 1890 – 12 October 1977) was a Czech painter, graphic artist and illustrator. • Illustration — Jan Zrzavý in the 1960s
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Authority files
wikidata · Q303530 · wikipedia · Jan Zrzavý
In this article
Biography
Biography
Zrzavý was born on 5 November 1890 in Vadín in Bohemia (today a part of Okrouhlice in the Czech Republic). He studied privately in Prague and then attended the UMPRUM there for 2 years starting in 1907, before being expelled. He first visited France in 1907, returning to Paris and Brittany frequently until 1939, but maintaining close links to his homeland. From 1942 to 1958, he lived and worked in Vodňany. After the war he became an associate professor at Palacký University of Olomouc from 1947 to 1950. Later he maintained private studios in Prague and Okrouhlice. He grew increasingly recognized on a national and international level in the 1950s and 1960s and was honoured a title of a National Artist in 1965. He died in Prague on 12 October 1977, at the age of 86. At his request, he was buried in Krucemburk, which he liked to visit and where his father came from.
Art groups and clubs
Art groups and clubs
• Sursum, 1910 – founder • SVU Manes 1917 – member • Tvrdošíjní (Stubborns) – co-founder
Jan Zrzavý a Vladimír Vojíř ze 70. let
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Jan Zrzavý
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Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1890–1977
The full dated record · 3 entries
1890
Jan Zrzavý was born in 1890.
1965
Jan Zrzavý.
1977
Jan Zrzavý died at Prague.
Artistic influences
Zrzavý was a key member of the Czech, and more broadly European, modernism movement the early part of the 20th century. Although he is regarded as a symbolist, he was heavily influenced by European Medieval art. Throughout his life he was also inspired by spectacular landscapes, both abroad (France, Italy, and Greece) as well as in his native country (Vodňany, Okrouhlice, Prague). He reworked many of his themes multiple times. He was admired by and written about by one of the founders of the Czech artistic movement called Poetism, Karel Teige. His œuvre dedicated to the Czech National Gallery is on display in Telč and in Prague.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q303530: Jan Zrzavý
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Jan Zrzavý”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
- Zrzavý, Jan, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2011
scholarly index
- OpenAlex author record A5056617674 for Jan Zrzavý.
General reference · OpenAlex
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Zrzavý, Jan, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011Crossref registry
Institutional witnessscholarly index
Secondary witnessauthority file
Secondary witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q303530: Jan ZrzavýWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Illustration
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- Jana FarmanováIllustrator
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- Jane AtchéIllustrator
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