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City in the Sea

Frantisek Kobliha

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-2033
Author: Frantisek Kobliha
Name: City in the Sea
Date of creation: 1950–1952
Country: Czech Republic
Technique: lithography
Material: toned paper
Dimensions: 39.2 x 24.9 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: symbolic art landscape
Provenance: Gifted by Czech artists, 1971

Information about author

Author: Frantisek Kobliha
Author in the original: František Kobliha
Artist's lifetime: 1877–1962
Country: Czech Republic
Biography: Frantisek Kobliha (1877–1962) was a Czech graphic artist and art critic. In 1910–1912, he headed the SURSUM group, whose members were engaged in artistic, spiritual, and occult practices. The members of the group were considered the second generation of Symbolists. Frantisek Kobliha was also one of the most influential artists and art critics of the Czech publication "Moderni Revue". Kobliha was educated in Prague at the Umprum School of Applied Arts (1896–1899) and then at the Academy of Arts, where he studied painting under Frantisek Zenisek, a representative of the academic painting style. In his creative work, Kobliha abandoned colour for black-and-white tonal variations. He worked in the techniques of lithography, drypoint, and wood engraving. In addition, he worked as a book illustrator. During the 1920s, the artist published works by such authors as Julius Zeyer (1841–1901), Jiří Karasek (1871–1951), Jan Opolsky (1875–1942), Rudolf Medek (1890–1940), and others. Kobliha also worked on bibliographical editions of literary works published by Kamilla Neumannova (1874–1957), often using floral motifs and the story's central figure as a frontal painting. The artist's oeuvre is characterised by an atmosphere of introspection and the creation of imaginary compositions, although his creative heritage also includes realistic landscapes from Czech villages. The main series of works by Frantisek Kobliha: "Simple Motifs" (1908), "Tristan" (1909–1910), a series of landscapes of Prague (1914), a series of lithographs "Fantasies of Moonlight Nights" (1944–1946), etc.

Object description

Illustration for Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The City in the Sea". Against a grey-green background, a pointed city with rectangular and pointed towers rises above the dark waves of the sea that occupy the lower third of the lithograph. The outlines of the city are indistinct, covered by a haze. Vertical dark masses of building outlines alternate with light patches of more profound perspective. The sky is covered with dark clouds, which lighten deep behind the city, forming a dark band across the horizon to the left. Behind the houses in the distance, a short horizon line is visible.

Inscriptions

In the lower left corner of the letter "FK", under the engraving on the left is the inscription "C14 / 25", on the right - "F. Kobliha" in the lower right corner of the sheet in Czech: "E. A. Poe, The City in the Sea – Lithograph".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

City in the Sea

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