Watch Out, He’s Here… Vratislav Nechleba (1885–1965) A Verist Ensnared by Modernism

The painter Vratislav Nechleba (1885–1965) lives on in the Czech cultural consciousness mainly thanks to the short stories of Ota Pavel – specifically the legendary character of the temperamental portrait painter Nejezchleb. Unlike the First Republic portraitist, however, his work is essentially unknown in professional circles or by the public. Although he spent four decades teaching at Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts and served several terms as the school’s rector, he spent his entire life as an artistic outsider who pointedly kept a distance from his progressively oriented generational peers and their endeavours at developing a modern form of expression. His works relating to the era’s social elites were admired for their consummate technique and draughtsmanship, as well as for their masterful execution, naturalism and sense of detail.