Cyril Bouda, christened Cyrill Mikoláš Bouda (14 November 1901 – 29 August 1984), was a Czech painter, graphic artist and
illustrator
An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...
, professor at
CTU and at
Charles University
Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...
in
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
.
Life
Born in
Kladno
Kladno (; ) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 70,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and has a rich industrial history.
Administrative division
Kladno consists of six municipal parts ...
, Bouda lived most of his life in Prague. Both of his parents were artists; his father was a high school teacher of drawing, his mother
Anna Boudová Suchardová (sister of sculptors
Stanislav Sucharda and
Vojtěch Sucharda) was an artist and industrial designer.
Mikoláš Aleš, the well-known Czech painter, was his godfather.
In 1923 Bouda graduated from the School of Arts and Crafts in Prague under František Kysela, and in 1926 he completed his studies at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where he studied under
Max Švabinský
Max Švabinský (17 September 1873 – 10 February 1962) was a Czech painter, draughtsman, graphic artist, and professor in Academy of Graphic Arts in Prague. Švabinský is considered one of the more notable artists in the history of Czech pa ...
. He was also an assistant to T. F. Šimon at the Academy of Fine Arts. Since 1932 he was a supply teacher of figurative drawing at an architecture department of the
CTU.
[Dana Frnochová: Diplomová práce, Cyril Bouda a současnost, ''JCU'', p. 12, (in Czech]
Available online
/ref> He was one of the professors of Bohuš Čížek, Jaroslav Brožek, Josef Liesler and others. In 1946–1972 he then worked as a teacher and later as a professor at the Faculty of Education of Charles University in Prague and in Brandýs nad Labem (1964–1972).
Among his students at Charles University was Jaroslav Weigel.
His son, Jiří Bouda, also became a graphic artist.
Work
At first he devoted himself to free graphics (drypoint, colour etching, lithography) and to painting pictures. However, he is known primarily as a versatile and very diligent author of applied graphics. Throughout his life he worked as a book illustrator, illustrating especially Czech fairy tales, legends, humorous and historical books (e.g. František Langer's ''Prague Legends'', Václav Cibola's ''Old Prague Legends'', '' Kocourkov''). He also translated his illustrations into the form of cartoons (e.g. the fairy tale ''Hrnečku, cook!'', 1953). He mastered many graphic techniques, woodcut and copperplate, etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...
and especially lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
. He was, among others, a graphic designer of Czechoslovak stamps. He also created designs for stained glass
Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
windows (in St. Vitus Cathedral, the window in the north aisle of Hilbert's Treasury, and the Church of St. Wenceslaus in Mcely) and a design for a panoramic tapestry of the city of Prague (''Prague – the Mother of Cities'', for the Hotel International Prague
The Grand Hotel International Prague is a four-star hotel located in the Dejvice quarter of Prague, in the Czech Republic. It was completed in 1956 in the socialist realism style, and is a Cultural monument (Czech Republic), Czech cultural monu ...
in Dejvice in 1958; a second version of the tapestry, without the infamous Stalin monument, was woven for the National Assembly building in Prague in 1960).
He also devoted himself to motifs from the surroundings of Třebíč
Třebíč (; ) is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 35,000 inhabitants.
The beginnings of the town's history are connected with the establishment of a Benedictines, Benedictine monastery, where the castle is loca ...
, which he exhibited in 1961 in the then West Moravian Museum in Třebíč.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouda, Cyril
1901 births
1984 deaths
People from Kladno
People from the Kingdom of Bohemia
20th-century Czech painters
20th-century Czech male artists
Czech male painters
Czech stamp designers
Charles University alumni