30 years ago, the Portmoneum of Josef Váchal was opened in Litomyšl

Publisher
ČTK
22.06.2023 07:25
Czech Republic

Litomyšl

Photo: Nikola Tláskalová. Source: © MGL

Prague – The Portmoneum Museum dedicated to the writer, mystic, sculptor, and philosopher Josef Váchal was opened 30 years ago, on June 23, 1993, in Litomyšl. The building, appearing quite unremarkable from the outside, surprises visitors with its rich, almost demonic interior decoration and furnishings. This was created by Josef Váchal between 1920 and 1924 at the request of his admirer, the Litomyšl printer and art collector Josef Portman. On the walls of the house and furniture, he depicted many spiritual and religious themes. However, their friendship later deteriorated; Váchal even created the character of the miserly Count Portmon, who resides in Portmoneum, in his work "Krvavý román" (Bloody Novel), which pays tribute to the pulp genre. Because of this work, Váchal's name is often associated with Litomyšl.


Váchal is primarily known as a creator of unique authorial books. For the books "Krvavý román," "Mor v Korčule" (Plague in Korčula), "Ďáblova zahrádka" (Devil's Garden), "Přírodopis strašidel" (Natural History of Ghosts), or "Šumava umírající a romantická" (Sumava Dying and Romantic), he created his own unique typeface, which he always designed, cast, or carved, typeset, illustrated the book usually with colorful woodcuts, and then bound and distributed the work himself. A lover of mysticism, occultism, and magic, as well as an admirer of Baroque, he published these books in only a few copies. His work, stemming from an excited imagination, night terrors, and dreams, presented in Czech art a unique and entirely new image of the internal world of an unbridled visionary.

One of the most remarkable Czech artists of the first half of the 20th century lived in obscurity for nearly 30 years, and his work was practically on the index until 1989. From the end of World War II until his death in 1969, he lived as a reclusive oddball in Studeňany near Jičín on a farm with his partner, artist Anna Macková. A few days before his death, he was awarded the title of deserving artist, while it was only in a major exhibition at the Old Town Hall in December 1966 that he lived in dire circumstances and neglect, and practically did not create from the end of World War II.

Váchal was born on September 23, 1884, in Milavče near Domažlice as a child born out of wedlock; his father was Josef Šimon Aleš-Lyžec, a cousin of Mikoláš Aleš. He was raised alternately by his mother and paternal grandmother. Sometime around 1903, his father introduced him to the Spiritualists. His interest in hermeticism then kept him occupied until his death. In Prague, he apprenticed as a bookbinder and then studied painting under Alois Kalvoda and Rudolf Bém, opening his first studio in 1908.

In 1924, Váchal published "Krvavý román" in 17 copies, a book that later became his most famous and was dramatized and filmed. When he read it aloud to Macková, she noted: "Witty like everything V. writes and draws. He should be making ex libris that people would pay for, but he doesn't. But he always has plenty of appetite for some fun for free." In 1931, Váchal published the monumental cycle of woodcuts "Šumava umírající a romantická"; three years later, together with Macková, "Receptář barevného dřevotisku," of which only a single copy was sold for 16,000 CZK at the time. In the 1930s, art critics overlooked Váchal's work, and his creation also didn’t resonate much with the average visitors to art galleries, who were particularly deterred by the depicted themes: death, suffering, madness, or war.

In the mid-1960s, Váchal's work was rediscovered. However, he had already reconciled with the world and refused offers to organize exhibitions, yet Anna and her friends managed to convince him: in 1966, they organized a comprehensive exhibition at the Old Town Hall. Macková died on May 4, 1969, in a hospital in Nová Paka, and Váchal followed his partner six days later. Both are buried in the cemetery in Radim near Studeňany.

Since 2016, the Portmoneum has been owned by the Pardubice region, which purchased it from the heirs of Ladislav Horáček. The building is managed by the Regional Museum in Litomyšl. Last year, over 8,000 people visited it. Since March 2017, a new permanent exhibition has been open, focusing on the lives of Váchal and Portman and highlighting the collaboration between the two men. Since autumn 2019, the museum has been closed due to a major reconstruction costing 9.5 million crowns, reopening in June 2020 with a new exhibition "Krvavý román" by Josef Váchal.
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