BOHEMIAN ARTIST JOSEPH LADA

Last evening I discovered an artist from the Czech Republic (my ancestral home).  His name:  Joseph Lada (1887-1957) was a painter, illustrator, cartoonist, writer, pioneer of the Czech comic book tradition and founder of the Czech modern fairy tale.   

Lada was the youngest of four children born to the local shoemaker's family.  He spoke English, French, German and Hebrew because he wanted to read the Old Testament in its original language.

When Lada was one year old, he fell on his father's knife and the permanent injury blinded his right eye.  Art historians attributed his flat-perspective style of painting to this incident.  Most of his pictures depict winter time.  He loved Christmas.  He once said that for him, Christmas was a real holiday season thanks to its festive atmosphere, the ringing of the bell in a small church, and the sparkling eyes of the children that reflected candle light during Christmas Eve dinner.

Let's look at some of his winter paintings.......

 

Joseph Lada's works are admired by both adults and children.  Spirituality and the magic of the snowy scenery are portrayed with festive calmness and tenderness.  His native village, Hrusice, with its iconic church of St. Wenceslaus, was a continuous source of inspiration for Lada.  We'll notice that the church is repeatedly captured in his paintings.  

Note:  Lada's hometown of Hrusice is about 35 miles south of Prague, Czech Republic.  My Dvorak ancestors came from the small town of Porezanky, 60 miles south of Prague.  The two towns are 85 miles apart.  The church that Lada paints in his pictures is the St. Wenceslaus Church in his home town.  What a coincidence that the church in our home town was St. Wenceslaus.  

I've got some research to do here, cuz we need to know more about this man.  As I keep saying, the more we look.....the more we find.