Unikátní exlibris v díle Josefa Váchala
Unique Bookplates in the Work of Josef Váchal

From the Art Collections of the Museum of Czech Literature

Summary/Abstract: The Art Collections of the Museum of Czech Literature include about seventy unique ex libris made by Josef Váchal (1884–1969). In this type of ex libris, it is evident that the artist never gave in to commercial pressures or made concessions regarding the demands he put on his own art. The execution of these works varies, including their techniques, colourfulness, and composition. They border on being caricature-like symbols, spiritually expressive visions, Cubist, Orphist, geometrically abstract, and socially critical or erotic. A relevant assessment of these works, each of which requires different criteria of judgement in relation to the graphic-art ex libris, cannot begin, however, until painstaking research has been carried out, which will not be limited to merely one source like the Art Collections of the Museum of Czech Literature. The list at the end of the article is thus one of the first steps towards research on this hitherto largely overlooked area of Váchal’s art, which comprises dozens of unreproducible, unique exemplars from the papers of Josef Portman (1883–1968), Jarmil Krecar (1884–1959), Arno Sáňka (1892–1966), and Váchal.

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