A visit to meet the Lichtagova family of artists
The other day my wife Sonia said,
"You will have a happy and successful year this year!"
"But every year has been happy and successful since I met you!" I answered, playing my role as if I was saying lines in a theatre production.
Over the years, with the whole day of work often spent leaning over the computer at home, I learnt to frequently communicate with my family without stopping my computing- just talk and at the same time concentrate on work in progress on the PC. Mechanical answers delivered to the point, with the majority not remembered by me, sometimes even what I was actually talking about!
This message about a lucky year, which Sonia found in an astrological handbook, or discovered on one of the many sites involved in forecasting the future, stuck in my mind somehow. Now that I am in the car heading to see the glass designer and artist Mrs Lichtagova and her family, I think to myself, maybe there is something to it. What else other than luck, sent to me from somewhere above, could permit me to meet Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágová, who, among her other achievements in life, worked as a designer at Skrdlovice glassworks, alongside her celebrated husband (the academic and sculptor Jan Lichtag), Jan Kotik and other famous names. At Skrdlovice, Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágová even designed glass to be made, often personally, by Emanuel Beranek himself at the end of WWII.
Fortune, good luck call it what you will, also certainly fell on my keyboard when I entered the search engine name "Jan Lichtag." I had just read an article about his work at Skrdlovice glassworks (in Shape magazine from 1948) and wanted to see what was online about him. (http://picasaweb.google.com/Jindra8526/Tvar19485?authkey=Gv1sRgCO_2g5KBkqXX_AE#5560101654037604594). On the second or third page, I searched the list of links, then I found a modern documentary film entitled "My grandfather Jan Lichtag." I soon managed to find the phone number of the filmaker, Mr David Christian Lichtag, grandson of Jan and Vlasta Lichtágová. He agreed to meet me and said his grandmother was at their home and that I could meet her too. What excitement! As soon as it could be arranged, I travelled to meet them, to discuss art and glass and Skrdlovice glassworks of course.
From my house near Prague, I started the usually long and uncomfortable journey on the D1 road to Brno. However, I was excited by the prospect of the meeting ahead and I went with lightning speed, just like the robber Pitr heading to Switzerland. The next thing I knew, I had arrived on the doorstep of the artistic family Lichtag, about to meet them. When I came to the door, I was met by a slim and elegant lady, it was Dana - the daughter of Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágová. For the next couple of hours I entered into an unknown private world of three generations of artists, concerned with art, glass and scuplture. Sculptures, paintings, glass, all made by the family- so many beautiful things, most people do not usually see outside a museum. I did not sadly have time in just one day to ask about many things, the products of almost a century of Lichtagova artistic endeavours. My breath is still taken away with the memory of just the fraction of the Czech artworks I recall seeing that day.
"Unbelievable!" I said, as I was guided around, and then repeated the word about a hundred times!
It was a privilege to meet Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágová (* December 18, 1921 Plzen). She was very nice and friendly. Being aged ninety, and having designed some things over sixty years earlier, a lot of things from the past she could not now recall, but happily her daughter Dana could help explain the story of her mothers career in glass design to me in greater detail, which she had always taken a great interest in. Dana showed me the drawings of glass vases prepared by her mother Mrs. Vlasta Lichtagova for Skrdlovice glassworks over 60 years ago. We examined pieces of glass she had made, drawings for glass and cardboard templates, or, as Mrs. Lichtágová says, "cut-outs." I also saw precise dated watercolours of pieces she had designed too, images sixty-five years old, that showed more than we already knew, demonstrating that the arrival of Vlasta and Jan Lichtagova at the Beranek factory really brought a foundation to a stong artistic style for the glass being made there.
I do not want to dabble in the craft of writing romantic novels, but in the interest of historical truth, I must say a little about such things, since the meeting of Vlasta and Jan Lichtagova is such a story. Miss Vlasta Kadlecova was a student at the School of Applied Arts in Brno, where Prof. Jan Lichtag was her teacher. Prof. Jan Lichtag, in the summer of 1944, during the war, was working on the manufacturing standards in the Beranek glassworks and went there with Vlasta, his student. Whether romance blossomed because of the romantic Highland landscape, or the furnace heat, who knows. What is certain is the significant role played in their story by happy visits to Lake Darko. The student and her professor, some 23 years her senior (!) spent many happy times here along the shoreline of lake Darko, at the very start of their liefelong relationship. Jan Lichtag mentioned this in an article and they also spent times here in later years as a married couple with their daughter.
The workshop glassmakers always impatiently waited for her turn to create new models of her wonderful glass items that we now call "antique Skrdlovice" glass.
The amount of items designed by Ms. Lichtágová from 1945 - 1952 is impressive, including numerous vases, ashtrays, dishes, etc. Certainly more than we previously thought and therefore we expect a lot of work for glass historians wishing to attribute the pieces made at Skrdlovice during the earliest period of design, to specific designers. In addition, Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágová only designed glass at Skrdlovice. Other examples of her work may not be found, even if you love collecting Czech art glass. Probably a little bit forced by an artistically jealous husband who had a serious career in sculpture and art, and her time taken with the role of motherhood, meant that she had to suppress my desire to succeed in glass design and after her work in Skrdlovice, creatively focussed on producing painting, mainly still lifes with flowers of extremely high quality.
Although Skrdlovice blown glass in the fifties led in a new direction, Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágové and her husband John Lichtag brought new artistic ideas to the Beranek glassworks at Skrdlovice. From the evidence of her drawings it seems that Jan and Vlasta Lichtag designed many more pieces of "pulegoso" style antique Skrdlovice glass than anyone has recently considered. Many of the designs that are not clearly attributed in the existing pattern books, are certainly the work of either of the Lichtag couple.
Artistic talent seems to stick like glue to this family. Daughter - Mrs. Dana Lichtágová produces and exhibits huge abstract canvas paintings. David Christian Lichtag is looking to produce more films soon and it would not surprise me if we hear a lot more about his film work in the future. More information may be found on the Web at http://www.lichtag.net/
A thank you must be said for the warm welcome I have been given, all the fascinating new information and interesting conversation.
I hope for the best, in all the future artistic adventures of the Lichtag family!
The other day my wife Sonia said,
"You will have a happy and successful year this year!"
"But every year has been happy and successful since I met you!" I answered, playing my role as if I was saying lines in a theatre production.
Over the years, with the whole day of work often spent leaning over the computer at home, I learnt to frequently communicate with my family without stopping my computing- just talk and at the same time concentrate on work in progress on the PC. Mechanical answers delivered to the point, with the majority not remembered by me, sometimes even what I was actually talking about!
This message about a lucky year, which Sonia found in an astrological handbook, or discovered on one of the many sites involved in forecasting the future, stuck in my mind somehow. Now that I am in the car heading to see the glass designer and artist Mrs Lichtagova and her family, I think to myself, maybe there is something to it. What else other than luck, sent to me from somewhere above, could permit me to meet Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágová, who, among her other achievements in life, worked as a designer at Skrdlovice glassworks, alongside her celebrated husband (the academic and sculptor Jan Lichtag), Jan Kotik and other famous names. At Skrdlovice, Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágová even designed glass to be made, often personally, by Emanuel Beranek himself at the end of WWII.
Fortune, good luck call it what you will, also certainly fell on my keyboard when I entered the search engine name "Jan Lichtag." I had just read an article about his work at Skrdlovice glassworks (in Shape magazine from 1948) and wanted to see what was online about him. (http://picasaweb.google.com/Jindra8526/Tvar19485?authkey=Gv1sRgCO_2g5KBkqXX_AE#5560101654037604594). On the second or third page, I searched the list of links, then I found a modern documentary film entitled "My grandfather Jan Lichtag." I soon managed to find the phone number of the filmaker, Mr David Christian Lichtag, grandson of Jan and Vlasta Lichtágová. He agreed to meet me and said his grandmother was at their home and that I could meet her too. What excitement! As soon as it could be arranged, I travelled to meet them, to discuss art and glass and Skrdlovice glassworks of course.
From my house near Prague, I started the usually long and uncomfortable journey on the D1 road to Brno. However, I was excited by the prospect of the meeting ahead and I went with lightning speed, just like the robber Pitr heading to Switzerland. The next thing I knew, I had arrived on the doorstep of the artistic family Lichtag, about to meet them. When I came to the door, I was met by a slim and elegant lady, it was Dana - the daughter of Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágová. For the next couple of hours I entered into an unknown private world of three generations of artists, concerned with art, glass and scuplture. Sculptures, paintings, glass, all made by the family- so many beautiful things, most people do not usually see outside a museum. I did not sadly have time in just one day to ask about many things, the products of almost a century of Lichtagova artistic endeavours. My breath is still taken away with the memory of just the fraction of the Czech artworks I recall seeing that day.
"Unbelievable!" I said, as I was guided around, and then repeated the word about a hundred times!
It was a privilege to meet Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágová (* December 18, 1921 Plzen). She was very nice and friendly. Being aged ninety, and having designed some things over sixty years earlier, a lot of things from the past she could not now recall, but happily her daughter Dana could help explain the story of her mothers career in glass design to me in greater detail, which she had always taken a great interest in. Dana showed me the drawings of glass vases prepared by her mother Mrs. Vlasta Lichtagova for Skrdlovice glassworks over 60 years ago. We examined pieces of glass she had made, drawings for glass and cardboard templates, or, as Mrs. Lichtágová says, "cut-outs." I also saw precise dated watercolours of pieces she had designed too, images sixty-five years old, that showed more than we already knew, demonstrating that the arrival of Vlasta and Jan Lichtagova at the Beranek factory really brought a foundation to a stong artistic style for the glass being made there.
I do not want to dabble in the craft of writing romantic novels, but in the interest of historical truth, I must say a little about such things, since the meeting of Vlasta and Jan Lichtagova is such a story. Miss Vlasta Kadlecova was a student at the School of Applied Arts in Brno, where Prof. Jan Lichtag was her teacher. Prof. Jan Lichtag, in the summer of 1944, during the war, was working on the manufacturing standards in the Beranek glassworks and went there with Vlasta, his student. Whether romance blossomed because of the romantic Highland landscape, or the furnace heat, who knows. What is certain is the significant role played in their story by happy visits to Lake Darko. The student and her professor, some 23 years her senior (!) spent many happy times here along the shoreline of lake Darko, at the very start of their liefelong relationship. Jan Lichtag mentioned this in an article and they also spent times here in later years as a married couple with their daughter.
The workshop glassmakers always impatiently waited for her turn to create new models of her wonderful glass items that we now call "antique Skrdlovice" glass.
The amount of items designed by Ms. Lichtágová from 1945 - 1952 is impressive, including numerous vases, ashtrays, dishes, etc. Certainly more than we previously thought and therefore we expect a lot of work for glass historians wishing to attribute the pieces made at Skrdlovice during the earliest period of design, to specific designers. In addition, Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágová only designed glass at Skrdlovice. Other examples of her work may not be found, even if you love collecting Czech art glass. Probably a little bit forced by an artistically jealous husband who had a serious career in sculpture and art, and her time taken with the role of motherhood, meant that she had to suppress my desire to succeed in glass design and after her work in Skrdlovice, creatively focussed on producing painting, mainly still lifes with flowers of extremely high quality.
Although Skrdlovice blown glass in the fifties led in a new direction, Mrs. Vlasta Lichtágové and her husband John Lichtag brought new artistic ideas to the Beranek glassworks at Skrdlovice. From the evidence of her drawings it seems that Jan and Vlasta Lichtag designed many more pieces of "pulegoso" style antique Skrdlovice glass than anyone has recently considered. Many of the designs that are not clearly attributed in the existing pattern books, are certainly the work of either of the Lichtag couple.
Artistic talent seems to stick like glue to this family. Daughter - Mrs. Dana Lichtágová produces and exhibits huge abstract canvas paintings. David Christian Lichtag is looking to produce more films soon and it would not surprise me if we hear a lot more about his film work in the future. More information may be found on the Web at http://www.lichtag.net/
A thank you must be said for the warm welcome I have been given, all the fascinating new information and interesting conversation.
I hope for the best, in all the future artistic adventures of the Lichtag family!
„Letos budeš mít šťastný a úspěšný rok“, přišla mi zrána říct Soňa do pracovny.
„Takový je přece každý, od té doby, co jsem tě poznal“ nevypadnu z role.
„Takový je přece každý, od té doby, co jsem tě poznal“ nevypadnu z role.
Za ta léta co celé dny vysedávám u počítače jsem se naučil komunikovat se svoji rodinou, aniž bych se přestal soustředit na právě rozdělanou práci. Odpovídám mechanicky a k věci, přičemž si většinou vůbec nepamatuji, o čem vlastně byla řeč.
Tohle poselství, které Soňa vyčetla z nějaké astrologické příručky nebo objevila na jednom z mnoha serverů zabývajících se předpovídáním budoucnosti, se v mé paměti nějak zaháčkovalo. Když teď o tom v autě přemýšlím, ono možná na tom něco bude.
Co jiného než štěstí, seslané mi odkudsi zhůry, mě mohlo přivést k žijící legendě československého sklářství – paní Vlastě Lichtágové?
Co jiného než štěstí, seslané mi odkudsi zhůry, mě mohlo přivést k žijící legendě československého sklářství – paní Vlastě Lichtágové?
To samotná Fortuna se snesla na mou klávesnici, když jsem do vyhledavače zadal jméno „Jan Lichtág“ od něhož jsem právě dočetl článek o škrdlovické sklárně v časopise Tvar z roku 1948 (http://picasaweb.google.com/Jindra8526/Tvar19485?authkey=Gv1sRgCO_2g5KBkqXX_AE#5560101654037604594). Na druhé či třetí straně seznamu vyhledaných odkazů jsem našel dokument o filmu „Můj dědeček Jan Lichtág“ dal si jednu k druhé a už jsem vytáčel číslo Davida Christiana Lichtága, vnuka Jana Lichtága a Vlasty Lichtágové.
Obvykle dlouhá a nepohodlná cesta po D1 do Brna utekla rychlostí blesku jako „podnikatel“ Pitr do Švajcu, a už zvoním u dveří domu umělecké rodiny Lichtágů. Přišla mi otevřít štíhlá a elegantní paní – dcera paní Lichtágové Dana - a já vstupuji do neznámého soukromého světa tří generací výtvarníků.
Sochy, obrazy, plastiky, tolik krásných věcí člověk nezná a neumí a nikdy asi nepozná a nenaučí se, a tak mě bere dech jen ten zlomek, který teď vidím.
„Neuvěřitelné!“ říkám, a pak ještě asi stokrát.
Obvykle dlouhá a nepohodlná cesta po D1 do Brna utekla rychlostí blesku jako „podnikatel“ Pitr do Švajcu, a už zvoním u dveří domu umělecké rodiny Lichtágů. Přišla mi otevřít štíhlá a elegantní paní – dcera paní Lichtágové Dana - a já vstupuji do neznámého soukromého světa tří generací výtvarníků.
Sochy, obrazy, plastiky, tolik krásných věcí člověk nezná a neumí a nikdy asi nepozná a nenaučí se, a tak mě bere dech jen ten zlomek, který teď vidím.
„Neuvěřitelné!“ říkám, a pak ještě asi stokrát.
Paní Vlasta Lichtágová (* 18.12.1921 Plzeň) si už bohužel na mnoho věcí z minulosti nevzpomíná, ale naštěstí hodně toho ví její dcera, paní Dana. Přináší desky s prastarými návrhy paní Vlasty pro škrdlovickou sklárnu, nechybí ani složka se šablonami vzorů, neboli, jak paní Lichtágová říká, „střihy“. Precizní akvarely, šedesátpět let staré, naznačují, to co jsme už tušili. Teprve příchodem Lichtágů do Beránkovi sklárny byla založena umělecká tradice škrdlovického skla.
Nechci fušovat do řemesla spisovatelkám romantických novel, ale v zájmu historické pravdivosti, musím. Za vším byla samozřejmě velká láska.
Studentka Školy uměleckého průmyslu v Brně slečna Vlasta Kadlecová byla se svým učitelem prof. Janem Lichtágem onoho válečného léta roku 1944 na výrobní praxi vzorovat v Beránkově sklárně. Jestli v tom byla drsně romantická krajina Vysočiny, či žár sklářské pece, kdo ví. Jisté je, že nemalou roli v příběhu hrálo jezero Dářko, na jehož břehu studentka se svým o 23 let starším profesorem prožila nejednu hezkou chvilku, protože nejen, že jej ve svém článku prof. Lichtág zmiňuje, ale i o mnoho let později se jako manželé s dcerami k němu rádi vraceli. Tmavovlasá studentka jistě zamotala hlavu i sklářům na huti, vždy prý nedočkavě čekali, až s ní budou moci zase vytvářet nové vzory těch krásných věciček, které dnes nazýváme škrdlovickou antikou. Množství realizovaných návrhů paní Lichtágové v letech 1945 – 1952 je obdivuhodné, a jistě větší, než jsme se dosud domnívali a čeká nás tedy ještě mnoho práce při zatříďování.
Nechci fušovat do řemesla spisovatelkám romantických novel, ale v zájmu historické pravdivosti, musím. Za vším byla samozřejmě velká láska.
Studentka Školy uměleckého průmyslu v Brně slečna Vlasta Kadlecová byla se svým učitelem prof. Janem Lichtágem onoho válečného léta roku 1944 na výrobní praxi vzorovat v Beránkově sklárně. Jestli v tom byla drsně romantická krajina Vysočiny, či žár sklářské pece, kdo ví. Jisté je, že nemalou roli v příběhu hrálo jezero Dářko, na jehož břehu studentka se svým o 23 let starším profesorem prožila nejednu hezkou chvilku, protože nejen, že jej ve svém článku prof. Lichtág zmiňuje, ale i o mnoho let později se jako manželé s dcerami k němu rádi vraceli. Tmavovlasá studentka jistě zamotala hlavu i sklářům na huti, vždy prý nedočkavě čekali, až s ní budou moci zase vytvářet nové vzory těch krásných věciček, které dnes nazýváme škrdlovickou antikou. Množství realizovaných návrhů paní Lichtágové v letech 1945 – 1952 je obdivuhodné, a jistě větší, než jsme se dosud domnívali a čeká nás tedy ještě mnoho práce při zatříďování.
Kromě Škrdlovic však už paní Vlasta Lichtágová sklo nikdy jindy nenavrhovala a nevzorovala, i když si ráda československé umělecké sklo nakupovala. Zřejmě trochu přinucena svým umělecky žárlivým mužem musela potlačit svoji touhu uplatnit se v keramice a věnovala se později pouze malbě, a to převážně zátiší s květinami.
I když se škrdlovické hutní sklo v padesátých letech vydalo poněkud jinou cestou je přínos paní Vlasty Lichtágové a jejího muže Jana Lichtága v samotných počátcích huti věcí neoddiskutovatelně zásadní:
Škrdlovická antika – to jsou prostě Lichtágovi, jednou a pro vždy.
I když se škrdlovické hutní sklo v padesátých letech vydalo poněkud jinou cestou je přínos paní Vlasty Lichtágové a jejího muže Jana Lichtága v samotných počátcích huti věcí neoddiskutovatelně zásadní:
Škrdlovická antika – to jsou prostě Lichtágovi, jednou a pro vždy.
Výtvarný talent se této rodiny drží jako klíště. Dcera - paní Dana Lichtágová maluje ohromná abstraktní plátna, vnuk David Christian Lichtág se zřejmě zatím ještě umělecky hledá a tápe, ale vůbec by mě nepřekvapilo, kdybychom o něm v budoucnu hodně slyšeli.
Více na webu http://www.lichtag.net/
Více na webu http://www.lichtag.net/
Děkuji za milé přivítání, informace a pohoštění a držím všem a ve všem palce,
milí Lichtágovi!
milí Lichtágovi!
Jindra Pařík 28.1. 2011
