Adolf Liebscher 1857-1919

Abstract

Adolf Liebscher belongs among the artists known as the "National Theatre Generation." Like ist foremost representatiwes, F. Ženíšek, M. Aleš and V. Hynais, Liebscher also produced an oeuvre of great diversity - he created decorative paintings and historical compositions, was interested in folklore painting, his drawings were published by the major journals of that time as Zlatá Praha or Světozor and rus illustrations appeared in many albums, books of poems and novels. Liebscher was bom on March 11, 1857, into a family of a Provincial Committee engineer Josef Liebscher. His older brother Karel (1851 - 1906) later became an appreciated landscape painter, with whom Adolf often cooperated. In 1875 - 1878, Adolf Liebscher studied at the School of Applied Arts in Vienna, in the three-year course for hand-drawing teachers under F. Laufberger. After obtaining a diploma, he entered the studio of E. A. Donadini for half-a-year, where he prepared his proposals for the competition for the National Theatre. In 1879, he was awarded in the competition and was commissioned to carry out some of his proposals in the passage of the theatre. Here he created eight lunette allegories of Dramatic arts.

Úkolem této práce bude znovu představit umělce, za jehož jméno byla v průběhu století kladena růmá "ale" - podílel se sice na výzdobě Národního divadla, jeho umělecká východiska však nespočívala na mánesovské tradici. ale v prostředí Vídně, cizím českému charakteru; zobrazoval sice výjevy z české historie a z českého venkova, v jeho pracích se však vždy nalézalo příliš sladké idyly a málo drsné pravdy; patřil sice k vyhledávaným umělcům, tato popularita však byla vykoupena kolísající kvalitou jeho děl, upadajících někdy až na hranici kýče.