Václav Boštík (1913–2005)

This book on artist Václav Boštík, published to mark the centenary of his birth, is an art historical study, rich in illustrations and other documentary materials, and is ultimately a rather unorthodox monograph penned by three authors. Historian Martin Boštík, a relative of the painter, has spent many years doing research on the artist and has managed to collect an astonishing amount of material on many aspects of the painter’s life and the sources of inspiration for his work, of which a particular focus in the book is Václav Boštík’s native region of Litomyšl. The intellectual atmosphere of this art-infused corner of eastern Bohemia during the time the painter dwelled there is described here by historiographer Stanislav Vosyka. The reflections of these two co-authors are nicely complemented by those of the third, curator and life-long friend of the artist Jaromír Zemina, who here presents samples of earlier thoughts he has had on Boštík’s work over the course of more than fifty years. The wealth of illustrations (almost five hundred photographs and reproductions of Boštík’s works) are a valuable resource as the vast majority of them are published here for the first time. Alongside the essential benefit of providing insight into who Václav Boštík was, the book also sets right the many myths and fallacies that to date have circulated in expert circles and among Boštík’s admirers. However, it in no way demolishes the cult of this, the biggest Czech painter of the second half of the 20th century (a status he would resist by noting to his below-average height, indicating him to be not the biggest but on the contrary the smallest Czech painter). A product of detailed work with and verification of source materials, this book will without question be the work of reference on Václav Boštík for a number of years to come.