|
 Viktor
Oliva was a fantastic drawer, illustrator, and painter born in Nove Strašecí,
Bohemia, Austia-Hungary 24th April, 1861. His main style was Art
Nouveau. At the age of 17 he attended the Prague Academy of Art and
studied under Františka Sequense, whom respected his work greatly. He then
continued his studies at the Munich Academy.
Then in 1888 he was drawn to the Montmartre area of Paris to
be part of the ever rapidly expanding artistic community there. He lived
there for some years and became good friends with other "Bohemian Parisiens"
such as
Luděk Marold,
Mikoláš Aleš,
Jakub Arbes,
and Karel Vítězslav Mašek. This group of actual Bohemians (from Bohemia)
were right in the heat of the "Bohemian
Revolution".
His art greatly improved in such a richly artistic
environment. Here is where he discovered the joy of Absinthe.
He also greatly loved the exhilaration of ballooning. They all held very
true to the ideals that the Artistic Bohemians believed in. They all lived
and worked there for several years before returning to their home in true
Bohemia.
In 1897 he was given the job of Images Editor at the very
popular Czech language magazine Zlatá Praha (Golden Prague). He held this
job for 19 years! Shortly after he started work there, he married a lovely
girl named Anna Adamcova
who was enamored with his talent. Not long after that, she gave birth to
his son Viktor Oliva Jr. (also was an
aspiring artist).
Sadly, their marriage didn't last long, as Anna ran away with a singer named
Mařák. He was still able to spend some time with his son, which brought
him very much joy.
Over the next quarter century, he was very prolific in his
work. He spent a lot of time with his extremely worldly best friend Josef
Kořenský (a true world traveler at a time when this was incredibly difficult).
He was commissioned to create many dramatic works including the ceilings of
several buildings in Bohemia. He also had several works hanging in his
favorite cafe, Kavárna
Slavia (Cafe Slavia, which now still has his most famous work "Piják absintu"
hanging proudly inside).
He was
profiled in Český Svět magazine (a Czech lifestyle magazine like People and
Time) in 1926, two years before his death. Here is a translation of the
text:
"Anniversary of the life (65th birthday) of such a kind and
likeable artist sets our memories well back – to the end of the 1880´s – when
the very young artist Oliva began to help with artistic decoration of Czech
books with such an elegance and charm, that he soon became one of the most
famous Czech illustrators up there with [Luděk] Marold, for example.
He's done illustrations for several books of Sv. Čech, J.
Neruda, Rais, Třebízský, Kronbauer – those were published for almost two decades
with Victor Oliva´s illustrations. As well as numerous of other books as
one of the first Czech artists in that area. Much of his work, his credits, are
still underrated and sometimes even forgotten.
We know Mr. Oliva as well as a landscape drawer and figure
artist, of very high quality and duality – huge canvases of his hang in Café
Slavia, the walls of buildings on beautiful Slavic Island, and Mestanska Beseda
in Pilsen. They are still able to capture you with strong emotions and
beautiful performance.
Currently, he is still busy with his art and we hope he will
soon surprise us with some exhibition of his older as well as newer paintings.
Oliva used to be in a group of artists such as [Mikoláš] Aleš,
[Jakub] Arbes, and others who knew how to live and had unusually good, noble
hearts.
Oliva is still a respected citizen not only for his art, but
also for his social interactions."
He died on 5th April, 1928 in Prague. He was
buried in
Olšanské
Cemetery in area for
famous artists.
Timeline of major events in his life:
1861 Born Nové Straseci
1878 Prague's Academy of Art
1880s? Munich Academy
1888 Lived in Paris
1891 August 27, Balloonist crew with Louise Godard described in book "From
Prague to the Baltic Sea by balloon" by J.R.Vilimek
1897-1916 Zlata Praha (Otto's publishing company)
Married Anna Andomcova
1898 Son Viktor Oliva Jr.
Left him for singer Mařák
1926 Profiled in Cesky Svet
1928 Died Prague
Buried in Olšanské Cemetery in area for famous artists.
Noteable Friends:
Josef Kořenský - World traveler whom Oliva illustrated books for.
Luděk Marold - Artist
Mikoláš Aleš - Artist
Jakub Arbes - Artist
Karel Vítězslav Mašek - Artist
| 
