Jakub Schikaneder

Early life Jakub (or Jakob) Schikaneder was born on 27 February 1855 in Prague, Bohemia, in the Austrian Empire to an Austrian German father and a Czech mother. His father, Karel Friedrich Schikaneder, was from Vienna and worked as a customs office clerk in Prague. His mother Leokadia (née Běhavá) was a native of Prague. He was a paternal descendant of Urban Schikaneder, the elder brother of librettist Emanuel Schikaneder. Emerging artist The Schikaneder family's love of art and their middle-class status in Prague society enabled him to pursue his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts from the age of 15. From 1870 to 1878, Schikaneder was immersed in the academy's stereometric and classical art style. He was a student of Antonín Lhota at the academy and finished his studies in 1878, serving for a year in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He travelled to and stayed in Paris from 1878 to 1880, where he gleaned inspiration from the late-nineteenth-century Parisian art scene before continuing his studies at the academy in Munich under Czech painter Gabriel von Max. Max's teaching allowed Schikaneder to explore deeper spiritual themes and examine the social contradictions in Czech art and culture of the time.''' Co-working with Emanuel Krescenc Liška, the two artists' proposal for the decoration of the Royal Box was accepted, a design that illustrated three important periods of Czech history upon a frieze. == Style ==

Schikaneder is known for his soft paintings of the outdoors, often lonely and melancholic. His paintings often feature poor and outcast figures and "combined neo-romantic and naturalist impulses." Schikaneder takes a particular interest in depicting shadow–both indoors and outdoors–that draws parallels to the nostalgic atmosphere of fin-de-siècle Symbolism. He draws inspiration from Parisian culture for depicting women, 19th-century European painting for themes of nostalgia and despair, and baroque Dutch painting–especially that of Rembrandt–for depicting light and aestheticism.''' During the 1890s, Schikander dedicated his work to portraying everyday emotional relationships and intellectual reactions to the crisis of modern existence. His propensity to paint surface reality and isolated figures in the 1880s shifted to portraying hidden meaning and combinations of light and color. Schikander, in particular, explored themes of death, both directly and suggestingly, and began to change to pastels and charcoals to employ a more subtle and firm style. Schikaneder drew inspiration from figures like Arthur Schopenhauer and his philosophy at this time. Nearing the end of his career, Schikaneder painted scenes of sentimental interiors, like his Woman at a Window (1900). His nocturnal and twilight urban scenes were also especially notable at this time. Following the end of WWI, experiencing a lightness and ease, Schikaneder paints and captures his cheerful character without anxious restrictions through different landscape and marine scene. His work done in his closing years captures a poetic longing, expressed lightly and clearly yet bracing in mood. == Notable works ==

Schikaneder's first well-known work was the monumental painting Repentance of the Lollards (2.5m × 4m) which has since been lost. Inspired by teacher Garbiel von Max, Schikaneder's famous Murder in the Block (1887–90) represents an attempt to expand the political and emotional range of genre painting. Schikaneder gave poet Jaroslav Vrchlicky a sketch of Drowned in 1893. Another of Schikaneder's notable works, painted in 1910, is Evening Mood. The painting's haziness represents an existential filter on one's perception of place; its hazy glow symbolically stops sunset's fading time into a lasting present. Another notable landscape of Schikaneder is Early Evening at Hradčany (1909), depicting a winter dusk and the back of a lone woman leaning over the wally of a bridge. Schikaneder's mysterious and melancholic mood were often infused by the paintings of a lone figure seen from behind. == Legacy ==

Schikaneder is known for his moody, twilight urban scenes. His work has been mostly lost since he first started his artistic career. Due to the popularity of Cubist and Surrealist art within Czech culture during much of the 20th century, Schikaneder passed mainly unknown to the Czech public. His work was largely unappreciated by the art world and perceived to be disrupting the genre norms of the time. His work was rediscovered in 1998 in a retrospective exhibit at the National Gallery Prague. == Art exhibitions ==

Following his death, Schikaneder's work was first exhibited in 1926 in a collection of The Union of Fine Artists. Several auctions have also exhibited Schikaneder's pieces, with a record price of US$580,110 for his Winter in Prague, sold at Sotheby's London in 2021. == Selected works ==

Jakub Schikaneder - The Sad Way.JPG|The Sad Way, 1886/87 Jakub Schikaneder - Plecka (1887).jpg|Weeder, 1887 Schikaneder.jpg|Company on the Terrace, 1887 Jakub Schikaneder - All Souls' Day.jpg|''All Soul's Day'', 1888 Jakub Schikaneder - Murder in the House.JPG|Murder in the House, 1890 Jakub Schikaneder - Evening Street - Google Art Project.jpg|Evening Street, 1906 Jakub Schikaneder - Vecer v zahrade (1907-9).jpg|Evening in the Garden, 1907–1909 Schikaneder - Straoprazska zakouti.jpg|A Corner of Old Prague, 1900–1905 File:Jakub Schikaneder - Early Evening at Hradčany - O 13999 - National Gallery Prague.jpg|Early Evening at Hradčany, 1909–1913 == Notes ==