Rudolf Kundera (1911-2005) Young Woman With A Hat

Large, expressive but shifty eyes, a solid and refined drawing for this pretty portrait of a young woman with a hat by Rudolf Kundera, a Czech artist but adopted by Provence. The work is done in oil on panel, it is presented in a modern gray and silver frame which measures 55 cm by 62.5 cm and 38.5 cm by 46 cm for the panel alone. It is signed lower left, on the back, a colored sketch of an unidentified city. It was at the initiative of Alfons Mucha that he left, in 1930, to study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague where he obtained his diploma in 1936. He then obtained a scholarship to Rome, where he created a whole series of paintings for churches, as well as landscapes and portraits. He acquired a significant reputation and became the friend of Bohuslav Martinů. At the beginning of the Second World War, he took refuge in Paris. He became friends with French people, including the writer Claude Mauriac and the poet Paul Valéry. To escape the occupation, he left Paris, and via Nantes and Toulouse, he reached the South of France. He was received by Countess Lily Pastré in Marseille, which hosted many artists. A realist painter, he is best known as a colorist, with a strong personality. He painted landscapes of Provence, folk scenes from Moravia, paintings inspired by the circus, and numerous portraits of the personalities of his time. He exhibited in several European countries and in the United States. His paintings are in two museums in Marseille: the Cantini Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts.