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House of Art
TUES–SUN 10:00–18:00

Jan Preisler / Fairy Tale

1902

The Ostrava Gallery of Fine Art has seven pictures by Preisler in its collections. Fairy Tale was painted just after the artist’s return from a study trip to Italy. It depicts a red-haired girl in a blue-green dress sitting in the mysterious setting of a silent castle. The dreamy maiden’s is an apparently lazy and sleepy black dragon. The painting was directly inspired by Antonín Sova’s poem Princess Lyoleja. Preisler’s oeuvre, which was also inspired by the poetry of Otokar Březina, Karel Hlaváček and Julius Zeyer and the music of Josef Suk, radiates melancholic and erotic longing and fairy-tale moods that carry an extraordinarily powerful symbolic charge. The painting’s emotive appeal results from Preisler’s palette that is entirely opposed to Realism and Impressionism, the typical styles of the art generation of his day.

 


PREISLER JAN

At the age of fifteen Preisler commenced his studies at the School of Applied Arts (1887−1895) in the studio of Professor František Ženíšek. While still a student he joined the Mánes artists’ association and regularly showed his works at its exhibitions thereafter. From 1896 he contributed art works to the Volné směry art monthly, which he also edited. He helped organise preparations for the exhibitions in Prague of Auguste Rodin (1902) and Edvard Munch (1905). He was a personal friend of the sculptor Émile Antoine Bourdelle. Preisler’s first works were created in the spirit of neo-romanticism, but he would abandon the allegorical approach in favour of Symbolism with elements of Art Nouveau style. His paintings have an inner melody and his symbols are a lyrical declaration.
The Master of the Hradec Králové / The Virgin Mary with SS Barbara and Catherine

The Master of the Hradec Králové / The Virgin Mary with SS Barbara and Catherine

around 1490
The Holy Family with the John the Baptist as a Child and St Roch

The Holy Family with the John the Baptist as a Child and St Roch

(1st decade of the 16th century)
Hans von Aachen / Job in Misfortune

Hans von Aachen / Job in Misfortune

(pre-1600)
Domenico Fetti / Adonis

Domenico Fetti / Adonis

(post 1613)
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