František Kaván (1866–1941)

When Vítanov Was Awakening from the Mist, 1910s, oil on canvas, signed lower left Kaván with the artist’s inscription “When Vítanov Was Awakening from the Mist”; on the reverse, an exhibition label from Kaván’s retrospective exhibition in Hlinsko (1941) and another exhibition label numbered 7. Painting dimensions: 116 × 150 cm; overall dimensions including the frame: 143 × 180 cm. Original artist’s framing.

This representative large-scale work ranks among the foremost paintings by František Kaván, one of the most important representatives of Czech landscape painting at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It stands out for its exceptional painterly quality, sensitive rendering of the landscape’s atmosphere, and a mature artistic expression characteristic of Kaván’s oeuvre. In terms of format, it is the largest Kaván painting to have appeared on the art market over the past several decades. The work’s collector appeal is further enhanced by its rich exhibition and publication history, attesting to its lasting scholarly and institutional recognition.

Exhibited:

Exhibition of Academic Painter František Kaván, Full Member of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts, Hlinsko, Bohemia, 6–27 July 1941, cat. no. 443

František Kaván: Beneath the Clouds, Regional Gallery Liberec, 25 June – 3 October 2021, retrospective exhibition marking the 155th anniversary of the artist’s birth and the 80th anniversary of his death

Literature:

Catalogue of the Exhibition of Academic Painter František Kaván in Hlinsko, Bohemia, 1941, Committee for the Kaván Celebrations, Hlinsko, p. 45, cat. no. 443

Karel Vancl: František Kaván, Regional Publishing House Liberec, 1959, mentioned in the text on p. 51

PhDr. Michael Zachař: František Kaván (monograph), REFOT Publishing House, 2001, ISBN 80-900723-4-8, listed in the catalogue raisonné on p. 49, no. 589

PhDr. Michael Zachař: František Kaván – The Oeuvre, S.V.U. Mánes, 2018, listed in the catalogue raisonné and illustrated in two period photographs from Kaván’s retrospective exhibition in Hlinsko in 1941