Roses

Dating from 1926, this still life with roses in a translucent vase represents a fascinating transitional period in Čapek’s work, when, following a more Expressionist cycle of “boys,” he turned towards lyrically expressive motifs and a brighter colour palette. The work reflects the author’s sense for simplified forms and flat stylisation, characteristic elements of his painterly style enriched here by the subtle play of light permeating the glass vase. The attentive viewer will appreciate Čapek’s skill in balancing the modern reduction in shapes and the preservation of their basic legibility with the charming roses that form a counterpoint to the rendering of the vase, which is reduced to a mere outline. In the context of the author’s book production of this period, during which he created remarkable linocut covers for works by W. B. Yeats and K. Biebl (both 1926), one can observe the same tendency towards an economy of expression and artistic purity. The work with the background deserves particular attention; here Čapek creates a subtle transition of colour evoking a daytime atmosphere, which strengthens the sense of three-dimensionality despite the simplified form. In contrast to the modernist tendencies of the day, Čapek does not incline towards abstraction in this work, but rather explores the possibilities of blending modernist expression with the traditional material of the still life. The first owner of the work was the major Czech publisher, writer, poet, and journalist Otakar Štorch-Marien (see the initials O. Š. on the verso), who held the license for the Čapek Brothers’ literary work to the end of the 1920s. The value of the work is increased by its publication in an inventory of the author’s works (P. Pečinková: Pracoval jsem mnoho, díl třetí: Malba (I Worked a Lot, Volume Three: Painting), Humpolec 2023, p. 568, cat. no. III/257); its appearance in Jaroslav Slavík’s working database under the number 433; and its inclusion in exhibitions: Paintings of Flowers, Aventine Mansard, Prague 1930 (Čapek’s only painting in this exhibition); Josef Čapek, Prague Castle Riding School, 7 October 2009 – 17 January 2010, and East Bohemian Gallery in Pardubice, 3 March – 30 May 2010, p. 69, cat. no. 104; Remembrance of Otakar Štorch-Marien’s Aventine Mansard, Galerie Zdeněk Sklenář, Prague, 7 November – 8 December 2007, n.p. Assessed in consultation with Prof. J. Zemina and PhDr. K. Srp. The expert opinion of PhDr. P. Pečinková, CSc. is attached: “[...] In his painting, Čapek concentrated above all on human subjects, but occasionally he also applied himself to floral still lifes, most frequently in the 1920s, when he was examining the expressive possibilities of modern artistic forms. He utilised a quite broad spectrum of stylistic approaches at the same time, from naïvism through reminiscences of Cubism to spontaneous, dynamic brush painting. The oil painting Roses is one of these experiments. [...].”