On
May 1, we commemorate the 130th death anniversary of Antonín Chittussi, the
founder of Czech modern landscape painting. In spring of 1879 he made his first
journey to Paris where his artistic oeuvre was strongly influenced by works of the
Barbizon School of painters – Théodore Rousseau, Charles Daubigny and Camille
Corot – which he studied in Parisian galleries, as well as by contemporary
artists he met in the environs of Barbizon. Chittussi also applied the method
of capturing scenes from nature (en plein
air) during his sojourns in Bohemia. The artist’s posthumous exhibition
held in Paris in 1892 had a profound impact on the upcoming generation of Czech
landscape painters; for example, František Kaván and Otakar Lebeda set out
together in Chittussi’s footsteps to paint the scenery around the South
Bohemian ponds and lakes. The NGP’s collections comprise a portrait of Chittussi
by František Ženíšek, probably made during the time when the two artists shared
an art studio.
