Kalvoda Alois 1875–1934

Cottages, circa 1908

oil on canvas, gilt frame, 65 × 65 cm, signed. Al. K.
The painters, belonging to the generation associated with the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, shared an interest in landscape painting, but at the same time - like their teacher at the Prague Academy - they excelled as draughtsmen. Mařák's fundamentally romantic conception of landscape resonates in their work with a sense of reality and deep personal experience. They individually enriched this point of view with new impulses drawn not only from plein air painting, but also from the influences of Impressionism and Symbolism. Kalvoda also coped with Impressionist impulses, but his conception of landscape became typical of a distinctive style inclined towards decorativism, close to Art Nouveau Symbolism. Alois Kalvoda (1875-1934), a native of Šlapanice u Brna, is presented here with a painting of a cottage painted around 1908. It is a very high-quality work of the artist's credible execution from his mature creative period of the first decade, not yet marked by overproduction.