Czech Painter Josef Ullmann 1870 Nekmíř– 1922 Prague "summer Landscape"

Czech painter Josef Ullmann 1870 Nekmíř– 1922 Prague "Summer Landscape"
Oil on cardboardSize: 49.5 x 66 cm
Signed lower right J. Ullmann 920(1920)
Framed under glass

Josef Ullmann was born in 1870 in the village of Nekmíř in the Plzeň region. His father Josef Ullmann died early and the family moved to Plzeň. Young Josef completed four classes of the real Plzeň grammar school and then started working at the Škoda factory as a clerk. His attempts at drawing were noticed by the director of the company and, on his recommendation, Josef Ullmann went to study at the Munich Academy of Painting in 1894. It is not known whether his studies at the Royal Academy of Arts in Munich were private or official. Jan Kubert (1986) reported studies with Professors August Fink (1846-1916), Johann Herterich (1843-1905) and B. Schmiedt (not traceable). Dana Veselská (2021) reports his enrollment at the Munich Academy in 1896 with Professor Karl Raupp (1837-1918). The leading representative of the Munich landscape school at that time was Professor August Fink, who headed the landscape studio from 1889 to 1905. J. Ullmann was influenced for a relatively long period of time by both his artistic expression and his choice of landscape themes. For unknown reasons, he said goodbye to Munich and became a student at the Prague Academy of Painting from 1897. First, J. Ullmann joined Professor Max Pirner and from 1898 he enrolled in the landscape school of Professor Julius Mařák. He graduated from the Academy in 1899. Karel Rélink wrote about his memories of Prague bohemian life in the circle of the restaurant "Monako", which J. Ullmann also frequented as a student, in the book "The Bohemians of Prague", first published in 1928. Another source of knowledge about J. Ullmann's student and young adult life are the memories of Otakar Nejedlý and Rudolf Ryšavý. All of them mention his passion for the piano, which he used to entertain the artistic society that met at "Monako".