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František Muzika ( 26.6.1900 – 1.11.1974) František Muzika was one of the important representatives of Czech Avant-garde artists in Czechoslovakia in the first half of the 20th century. He was a member of Devetsil since 1919 and Manes since 1926. Muzika was a painter, graphic designer, stage designer, illustrator, editor and professor at UMPRUM, Prague. Muzika was born in Prague. After studying at the Academy of Arts, Prague in 1924, he got a one- year scholarship from the French government for studying at Ecole des Beaux – Arts. In Paris he also received private lessons from Frantisek Kupka at his atelier. In Paris he met Max Jacob, who took him to meet Leonci Rosenberg. On Sundays he had regular meetings with Joseph Bernard, where he also met Maillol and Bissier, with whom he exhibited at Automne Salon. In 1925, after he returned from Paris, his experiences with the work of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso led Muzika to change his style of painting. “Over the course of more than fifty years, Muzika’s work thus underwent several developmental changes. It always, however, remained faithful to itself and to the starting points of Muzika’s generation. It never let itself to be tempted down the wrong path by briefly fashionable trends or cheaply earned successes; it never got bogged down in the stagnant waters of convention or dissipated in its own discoveries and approaches.” (2) Painting: First Period (1918 – about 1928): Muzika was influenced by Bohumil Kubista. He then shifted to a primitivist neoclassicism. He focused on pastoral scenes, architecture and everyday life. Second period (about 1928- 1936) After Paris he radically revised his artistic poetics. Objects lost their material character. His painting style relaxed. He created a new pictorial reality that took the form of Lyrical Cubism. After 1930, FM involved surrealist elements in his process. The poetics of Muzika’s pictures were influenced by the work of Giorgio de Chirico and FM’s own experiences as a stage designer. Third period (1936- about 1948) Muzika reacted to the Spanish Civil War, the occupation of Czechoslovakia, and the brutality of the war. Muzika’s wartime period shows the torment and grief of this tragic time with allegorical pictures. His paintings with imaginary landscapes, dark atmospheres, and jarring metaphors created the feeling of dramatic tension and darkness of the time. The last period: Post – war period. F. Muzika’s topic of his paintings was the fossilized world. Muzika erased the differences between the real and unreal, the microcosm and macrocosm.

Other work: In 1927 FM started to infiltrate in other fields, such as stage designing and book illustrations. He was an editor of cultural magazines. One example of his 107 stage designs is “Julietta” by B. Martinu in the Czech National Theater (1938). In 1927 he started his work on the book Krasne Pismo (a history of latin script), which was published in 1958 in the CR and in 1965 (Schoene Schrift) in Germany. He also designed many posters ; for example, Emil Filla’s exhibition and Prague Spring 1946 and 1947. His symbol from the poster is still the logo for Prague Spring today. He illustrated many books including Karel Capek’s RUR. Muzika had many exhibitions in CR, first in 1922, Poetry 1932. ... International Group Exhibits: 1948 – Biennale Venice 1964 - Biennale Venice 1968 – Obsession et Visions, Gallery Andre Francoise, Paris exhibits together with Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Salvator Dali, Joan Miro, Rene Magritte.. 1969 – Surrealism in Europe, Baukunst Gallery, Koln, Germany 1969 – “Phases”, Musee d’Ixelles, Brussel International Solo Exhibits: 1965 – Gallery del Naviglio, Milan 1965 – Gallery del Cavallino, Venice 1967 – Gallery Maya, Brussel 1971 - Gallery Lambert Monet, Geneve 1972 - Gallery Baukunst, Koln, Germany International stage Design Exhibits: Vienna 1935, Milano 1936, Paris 1937, Sao Paolo 1959, South America 1960- 1963. Medals: 1937 - exhibition in Paris (stage design) 1939 - 2 diplomas VI. triennale, Milan 1959 - Gold Medal – books graphics, Leipzig, Germany FM’s paintings and drawings are in many Czech and foreign galleries, as well as in the Centre Pompidou, Paris. 1 Frantisek Smejkal: Frantisek Muzika, Odeon Praha, 1966. 2 Vlastimil Tetiva, Vlasta Koubska: Frantisek Muzika, Gallery Praha, 2012.