SIGNED Original Oil Painting by Vaclav Vytlacil-(American, 1892-1984) Circa 1923

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RARE SIGNED Original Oil Painting by Vaclav Vytlacil-(American, 1892-1984) Circa 1923-No Reserve Titled: "Sunlight on a Munich Street" Most likely painted during Vaclav's study at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich prior to studying under Hans Hoffman. Measurements: Unframed: 14 1/8" x 18 1/8", Framed: 21" x 25" Medium: Oil on Board Artist Signed Lower Right with Location Noted as Munich Born in 1892 to Czechoslovakian parents in New York , Vaclav Vytlacil and his parents moved to Chicago , Illinois when he was still a young boy. It was apparent from an early age that Vytlacil was especially talented in the arts, and his parents soon enrolled him in classes at the Art institute of Chicago . In 1913, Vytlacil received a scholarship to study at the Art Students League in New York . Under the tutelage of the famous portraitist John C. Johansen, Vytlacil learned to paint as an impressionist. By 1921 he had saved enough of his earnings to travel to Europe to study the works of Cezanne and other artists. Eventually Vytlacil enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich , Germany . When fellow classmate Ernest Thurn withdrew from the Academy in order to enroll at Hans Hofmann's school, Vytlacil soon followed suit. In Hans Hofmann Vytlacil found a cutting-edge, exciting instructor as well as friend. Later the two worked together. In 1924, Vytlacil and Thurn organized Hofmann's summer school on the island of Capri . Vytlacil became an influential advocate of Hoffman’s modernist teachings. Fundamental to his approach was an appreciation that drawing is basic to the methodology of painting, followed by later application of colors to influence space. In 1929 he joined the faculty of the Art Students League in New York . After a year of teaching at the Art Students League, Vytlacil returned to Europe, where he set up a studio in Paris . Back in Europe he was greatly influenced by the works of Picasso, Matisse, and Dufy. He spent the next six years splitting his time among Paris , Capri , and Positano. At Positano he briefly established an informal art school in a villa. Vytlacil returned to the United States and began to help establish the American Abstract Artists group. His only daughter Anne, was born the same year as the opening of the American Abstract Artists Group show, in 1936. A member of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Vytlacil also taught at various schools throughout the United States . Among his students, Cy Twombly, James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg, Tony Smith, and Louise Bourgeousn would go on to have distinguished careers as influential artists. Whether it was landscape, still life, or human figure, Vytlacil's work at this point took on what some might call an element of spontaneity.” After enjoying a nationwide reputation as an influential instructor, Vytlacil died in 1984 at the age of 91 in Sparkhill , New York . In the Spring of 2010, The New York Times obituary of internationally-acclaimed artist Louise Bourgeois singled out her study at The Art Students League with teacher Vaclav Vytlacil, the modernist painter whose home and studio were donated in 1996 to create the League's Vytlacil Campus. Sixty years earlier the paper's art critic, Howard Devree, ranked Vytlacil alongside Braque, Matisse, Picasso, and Ben Shahn. Vytlacil, he wrote, "both as teacher and painter, [is] a decided force in contemporary American painting." His works are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art. He was an early and active supporter of civil rights and environmental causes. read more

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