Czech Painter of India Jaroslav Hnevkovsky
12.06.2020 / 13:23
Venue: New Delhi, IndiaThe Embassy of the Czech Republic in New Delhi would like to introduce one of the most famous Czech painters, Mr. Jaroslav Hnevkovsky, who is called "Painter of India" in the Czech Republic. His tremendous paintings are offered at different auctions and it became a part of the attraction for the people. One of his oil paintings "Adam & Eva" was sold for 20,755 EUR in 2017 during an auction in Prague.
During 1909 famous Czech painters, Mr. Jaroslav Hnevkovsky went with another Czech painter Otakar Nejedly to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and India. He made a lot of paintings there and if you will see those paintings you will easily get the idea of how his art was inspired by India.
In 1921, he organized an exhibition on "Paintings from the Jungle" in London, which aroused a great response. At that time, Hnevkovsky was called "Slavic Gauguin". The exhibition was also very impressive for Rabindranath Tagore, who invited Hnevkovsky to teach paintings at his school in Shantiniketan, Kolkata.
The painter then went to India for the second time in 1922 intending to stay there permanently but he returned home in 1927. In Prague, he became involved in artistic life, became a member of the Mánes Association of Fine Artists, organized an exhibition of paintings in the Alšhall Umělecké based (1927) and in the same year published the book Painter's Leaves from India.