This article includes a list of references , related reading , or external links , but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations . Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. ( December 2014 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message )

Josef Vachal (23 September 1884 in Milav?e near Doma?lice ? 10 May 1969 in Stude?any ) was a Czech writer, painter, printmaker and book-printer.

Vachal was the son of Josef Ale?-Ly?ec and Anna Vachalova - his parents never married. He was brought up by his grandparents, Jan Ale? and Jana Ale?ova, in the southern Bohemian town of Pisek , where he entered grammar school but left it prematurely. In 1898 Vachal moved to Prague , where he studied bookbinding and befriended his father's cousin, the painter Mikola? Ale? . He was influenced by Art Nouveau during that time.

In 1900 he wrote his first poems, by 1903 he joined the Prague Theosophy Society , in 1904 he entered the Painter School and later became a respected painter and graphic designer. In 1910 Vachal published his first two books. Between January 1912 and January 1913 he enjoyed a short but intense friendship with the mystical Catholic writer Jakub Deml . In March 1913, Vachal married Ma?a Pe?ulova, and began a friendship with the collector J. Portman; Portman's house Portmoneum is now the Vachal Museum in Litomy?l .

From 1916 to 1918 Vachal served as a soldier on the Italian front. During 1940, expressing resistance against Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia , he moved from Prague to the village of Stude?any, a part of Radim in eastern Bohemia ('tusculum' or 'exile'). After the communist revolution of 1948 in Czechoslovakia , he became more socially and culturally isolated and his works were rarely seen in public. He lived in obscurity on the family estate of his partner, Anna Mackova, in Stude?any. Even with the coming of Prague Spring in the late 1960s his situation didn't significantly change. He was, however, awarded the state title of Meritorious Artist shortly before his death in 1969. He is buried in Radim.

The publishing house Paseka was inspired by the character publisher Paseka in Vachal's Bloody Novel . Portmoneum, Vachal's museum in Litomy?l , was founded by Paseka publishing house in the early 1990s.

Work (only main texts) [ edit ]

• Krvavy roman [lit. "Bloody Novel"] published 1924
• Mor v Korcule [Plague in Korcula] (published 1927)
• Mali? na front?. Soca a Italie 1917-18 [Painter in War. Soca and Italy 1917-18] (published 1929)
• ?umava umirajici a romanticka [Gabreta dying and romantical] (published 1931, 11 copies)
• Recepta? barevneho d?evorytu [Book of colored woodcut] (published 1934) - theoretical work on woodcut techniques
• Nejnovej?i legatio mortuorum [Newest legatio mortuorum] (published 1936)
• Kazani ad calendas graecas [Sermon ad calendas graecas] (published 1939, 17 copies)
• ?ablova odst?edivka [Devil's Spin Drier] (published 1941, 10 copies)
• ?ertova babi?ka [Imp's Grandma] (written 1940-1948)
• Moudrost Svobodneho zedna?stvi [Wisdom of Free-Masonry] (written 1951)
• Robinson mohelnsky [Robinson of Mohelno] (written 1955)
• ?ivant a umrlanti [Living Man (=Vachal) and Zombies (=communists) of this world] (written 1956)
• ?arodejnice z Hole?ovic neboli V?ze? v bol?evickem hrad? [Witch of Holesovice or Prisoner in Bolsheviks's Castle] (written 1959)
• Pam?ti [Memoirs] published 1994
• Deniky 1922-1964 [Diaries] published 1998

References [ edit ]

• J. Kroutvor: Josef Vachal. Prague: Argestea 1994.
• J. Oli?: Nejlepe tla?iti...Prague: Paseka 1993.
• Josef Vachal 1884-1969. Mezi Bohem a ?ablem . Smetanova vytvarna Litomy?l 2008. ISBN   978-80-7185-913-0

External links [ edit ]

• Czech site about Vachal
• Paseka, Vachal's main publisher after 1989
• Portmoneum, Vachal's museum in Litomy?l
• Ji?i Rulf's text about Portmoneum