Jan Zrzavý worked at a period when the terms of art itself were being renegotiated.
The record lists Jan Zrzavý as Czech artist (1890-1977).
Jan Zrzavý was born at Vadín in 1890. His recorded nationality is Cisleithania. He trained at Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague.
Around the turn of the twentieth century the movements arrived in quick succession, each defining itself against the last.
He worked as actor, pedagogue and painter.
His best-known work is Cleopatra II. An artist's reputation moves with taste, but the work stays exactly where it was left.
That the work was made in Cisleithania shaped it: artistic traditions, academies and the galleries that decide what is seen have never been evenly distributed.
Jan Zrzavý died in 1977, aged 87. The work remains, hanging in collections that outlived both the artist and the market that first priced it.
Achievements
- Notable work: Cleopatra II
