   josef vÃ¡chal (september 23, 1884 in milavÄe near domaÅ¾lice â may 10, 1969 in studeÅany) was a czech writer, painter, printmaker and book-printer. vÃ¡chal was the illegitimate son of josef aleÅ¡-lyÅ¾ec and anna vÃ¡chalovÃ¡ - his parents never married. he was brought up by his grandparents, jan aleÅ¡ and jana aleÅ¡ovÃ¡, in the southern bohemian town of pÃ­sek, where he entered grammar school but left it prematurely. in 1898 vÃ¡chal moved to prague, where he studied bookbinding and befriended his father's cousin, the painter mikolÃ¡Å¡ aleÅ¡. he was influenced by art nouveau during that time. in 1900 he wrote his first poems, by 1903 he joined the prague theosophy society, in 1904 he entered the painter school and later became a respected painter and graphic designer. in 1910 vÃ¡chal published his first two books. between january 1912 and january 1913 he enjoyed a short but intense friendship with the mystical catholic writer jakub deml. in march 1913, vÃ¡chal married mÃ¡Å¡a peÅ¡ulovÃ¡, and began a friendship with the collector j. portman; portman's house portmoneum is now the vÃ¡chal museum in litomyÅ¡l. from 1916 to 1918 vÃ¡chal served as a soldier on the italian front. during 1940, expressing resistance against nazi occupation of czechoslovakia, he moved from prague to the village of studeÅany ('tusculum' or 'exile'). after the communist revolution of 1948 in czechoslovakia, he became more socially and culturally isolated and his works were rarely seen in public. he lived in obscurity on the family estate of his partner, anna mackovÃ¡, in studeÅany. even with the coming of prague spring in the late 1960s his situation didnât significantly change. he was, however, awarded the state title of meritorious artist (zaslouÅ¾ilÃ½ umÄlec) shortly before his death in 1969. he is buried in the village of radim near jiÄÃ­n, eastern bohemia.  the publishing house paseka was inspired by the character publisher paseka in vachal's bloody novel. portmoneum, vÃ¡chal's museum in litomyÅ¡l, was founded by paseka publishing house in the early 1990s. ==work (only main texts)== *krvavÃ½ romÃ¡n [bloody novel, can be translated as penny dreadful] published 1924 *mor v korcule [plague in korcula] (published 1927) *malÃ­Å na frontÄ. soca a italie 1917-18 [painter in war. soca and italy 1917-18] (published 1929) *Å umava umÃ­rajÃ­cÃ­ a romantickÃ¡ [gabreta dying and romantical] (published 1931, 11 copies) *receptÃ¡Å barevnÃ©ho dÅevorytu [book of colored woodcut] (published 1934) - theoretical work on woodcut te
1884_births 1969_deaths Czech_graphic_artists Czech_writers