Exhibition authors: Veronika Hulíková, Tomáš Vlček
Curator: Veronika Hulíková

www.schikaneder.cz

Fourteen years have passed since the 1998-1999 exhibition of Jakub Schikaneder's work at the National Gallery in Prague. Since then, a number of paintings and drawings previously thought missing have surfaced in private collections. The current exhibition is the largest ever presentation of the artist's oeuvre; many previously unknown artworks are publicly displayed for the first time together with new information about the artist's life.

Jakub Schikaneder was born in Prague on February 27, 1855. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 1870-1878. Schikaneder combined his robust social feeling and knowledge of contemporary European painting in an original manner in many paintings depicting women in hardship, old age and poverty. Schikaneder's best known artworks are the Prague nocturnes, a harmonious combination of the paintings' theme (of human fate) and structure. The painter lived in seclusion as of 1910 and no longer displayed his paintings in public. At that time, he was painting deserted interiors, a lesser-known part of his oeuvre. A trip to the northern coast of Germany and Helgoland Island in 1922 inspired Schikaneder to paint vistas of the coastline, piers, lighthouses and harbour lanes, which represent the last phase of his career.