Jan Kotěra (18 December 1871 – 17 April 1923) was a Czech architect, artist and interior designer, and one of the key figures of modern architecture in Bohemia.
Biography
Kotěra was born in Brno, the largest city in
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The m ...
, to a Czech father and German-speaking mother. He studied
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
in Vienna during the waning days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the Viennese master
Otto Wagner
Otto Koloman Wagner (; 13 July 1841 – 11 April 1918) was an Austrian architect, furniture designer and urban planner. He was a leading member of the Vienna Secession movement of architecture, founded in 1897, and the broader Art Nouveau move ...
.
Kotěra returned to Prague in 1897 to help found a dynamic movement of Czech nationalist artists and architects centered on the
Mánes Union of Fine Arts
The Mánes Association of Fine Artists ( or ''S.V.U.''; commonly abbreviated as ''Manes'') was an artists' association and exhibition society founded in 1887 in Prague and named after painter Josef Mánes.
The Manes was significant for its inte ...
. Strongly influenced by the work of the
Vienna Secession
The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austr ...
, his work bridged late nineteenth-century architectural design and early modernism. Kotěra collaborated with Czech sculptors
Jan Štursa
Jan Josef Štursa (15 May 1880 in Nové Město na Moravě – 2 May 1925 in Prague) was a Czech sculptor, one of founders of modern Czech sculpture.
Birth and studies
Štursa was born in mountainous area of Vysočina Region. He studied masonry ...
,
Stanislav Sucharda, and Stanislav's son
Vojtěch Sucharda on a number of buildings.
As a teacher, Kotěra trained a generation of Czech architects, including
Josef Gočár
Josef Gočár (13 March 1880 in Semín – 10 September 1945 in Jičín) was a Czech architect. It was one of the founders of modern architecture in Czech Republic.
Life
Josef Gočár received his early instruction at the State Technical School ...
, who would bring Czech modernism to its pinnacle in the years leading up to the Nazi occupation in 1939. Kotěra was one of a number of Czech architects to design the "Bata houses" and
Bata shoe factory at East Tilbury,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
These are considered Modernist landmarks of industry and a company town.
Works
*
East Bohemian Museum in
Hradec Králové
Hradec Králové (; german: Königgrätz) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected by law as an ...
,
(1908–1912)
*
Peterka House, 12
Wenceslas Square
Wenceslas Square ( Czech: , colloquially ''Václavák'' ) is one of the main city squares and the centre of the business and cultural communities in the New Town of Prague, Czech Republic. Many historical events occurred there, and it is a tra ...
,
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
(1899–1900)
*
National House in Prostějov
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
*
Trmalova Villa
Trmal Villa or Trmalova Vila is a villa in Prague designed in 1902 by the Czech architect Jan Kotěra in the English Modernist style. The villa has been restored, and is now a museum and cultural centre open to the public and for research. Its ar ...
- an early rustic villa in Prague
[Cultural Movement]
Foibos.cz, retrieved 4 November 2013
* Villa of
Tomáš Baťa in
Zlín
Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; german: Zlin) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 73,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice river. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the ...
* Faculty of Law at
Charles University in Prague (1924–1927)
* Two monuments for members of the Perutz family at the
New Jewish Cemetery
Gallery
Image:Hradec Králové - průčelí Muzea Východních Čech.jpg, Museum of Eastern Bohemia, Hradec Králové.
Image:Národní dům - panorama, Prostějov.jpg, Národní dům (National House), Prostějov.
Image:Zlín, vila Tomáše Bati (3).JPG, Baťa's villa, Zlín.
Image:PFUK interier.jpg, Faculty of Law, Prague.
Image:Büste Jan Kotera.JPG, Bust in Prague.
References
External links
*
Pictures from Hradec Králové museumList of works (in Czech)summary biography with imagesa
1871 births
1923 deaths
Architects from Brno
People from the Margraviate of Moravia
Czech nationalists
Moravian-German people
{{CzechRepublic-architect-stub