# Emil Filla

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**Emil Filla** (4 April 1882 – 7 October 1953) was a [Czech](/source/Czechs) painter. He was a leader of the [avant-garde](/source/Avant-garde) in [Prague](/source/Prague) between World War I and World War II and was an early [Cubist](/source/Cubist) painter.

## Early life

Filla was born in [Chropyně](/source/Chropyn%C4%9B), [Moravia](/source/Moravia), and spent his childhood in [Brno](/source/Brno), but later moved to Prague. Beginning in 1903, he studied at the [Academy of Fine Arts in Prague](/source/Academy_of_Fine_Arts_in_Prague), but he left the school in 1906.

## Painting

Filla was a member of the group [Osma](/source/Osma_(group)) (The Eight) in 1907-1908, which had commonalities with the [Fauves](/source/Fauvism) and also had direct ties to the [German Expressionist](/source/German_Expressionist) group [Die Brücke](/source/Die_Br%C3%BCcke). Important works by Filla from this period include *Reader of Dostoevsky* (1907) and *Chess Players* (1908). In 1909, he became a member of the [Mánes Union of Fine Arts](/source/M%C3%A1nes_Union_of_Fine_Arts).

Beginning in 1910 he painted primarily in a [Cubist](/source/Cubist) style,[1] strongly influenced by [Picasso](/source/Picasso) and [Braque](/source/Braque), and produced works such as *Salome* (1911) and *Bathers* (1912). He also began to paint many [still lifes](/source/Still_life) around that time. In 1911, he edited several issues of *Volné směry*, promoting Cubism and publishing reproductions of works by Picasso. After both readers and the leaders of Mánes reacted negatively, he and others withdrew from Mánes and founded *Skupina výtvarných umělců* (Group of Visual Artists), which was a Cubist-oriented group.

Around 1913, he and [Otto Gutfreund](/source/Otto_Gutfreund), produced some of the earliest [Cubist sculpture](/source/Cubist_sculpture) made anywhere. Before World War I he moved to Paris, but left for the Netherlands when war broke out. He returned to Prague after the war. During the 1920s, he further developed his version of [Synthetic Cubism](/source/Synthetic_Cubism) and rejoined Mánes. Like many Czech modernists, he was active in design as well as in painting; in 1925 he designed paintings on glass for the Czechoslovak Pavilion at the [International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts](/source/International_Exposition_of_Modern_Industrial_and_Decorative_Arts) in Paris. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, [Surrealist](/source/Surrealist) influence also began to show in his painting and sculpture, and he was a participant in [Poesie 1932](/source/Poesie_1932), an international exhibition in Prague that introduced Surrealism to the Czech public. He did not, however, become a Surrealist.

His works have been compiled by Vojtěch Lahoda in a catalogue raisonne published in 2007 by Academia Press in Prague.[2]

## 1939–1953

On the first day of World War II he was arrested by the [Gestapo](/source/Gestapo) for his anti-Nazi activism together with painter [Josef Čapek](/source/Josef_%C4%8Capek) and others and was subsequently imprisoned in German [concentration camps](/source/Concentration_camp) [Dachau](/source/Dachau_concentration_camp) and [Buchenwald](/source/Buchenwald_concentration_camp).[3] However, he survived, returned home and began to teach at the Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze (VŠUP—Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague). Filla's teachings at the Academy ensure the continuance of Czech Cubism, and his influence is notable in the works of his pupil [Milos Reindl](/source/Milos_Reindl) amongst others.[4]

In 1945, he was the first artist to be given a post-war exhibition at Mánes. After the war, he exhibited mainly works from the cycle *Boje a zápasy* (Fights and Struggles), and later mainly produced landscapes. During his lifetime he was active as a painter, sculptor, collector, theoretician, editor, organizer, and diplomat. From 1947 to 1952, he lived and worked in the castle in [Peruc](/source/Peruc). In the southern wing of the castle, where he lived, today there is a memorial hall with his paintings.[5] He died on 7 October 1953 in Prague and is buried in [Střešovice](/source/St%C5%99e%C5%A1ovice) district of Prague.

He idolised [Vincent van Gogh](/source/Vincent_van_Gogh), [Pierre Bonnard](/source/Pierre_Bonnard) and [Edvard Munch](/source/Edvard_Munch) as well as [Picasso](/source/Picasso) and [Braque](/source/Braque).

## Monetary valuation

His painting "sculptress in the studio" was sold by Sotheby's on 13 June 2011 for 623,650 GBP and "seated woman" was sold on 14 November 2017 for 729,000 GBP. [6]

On 28 November 2021, "portrait of an old man" from 1914, sold for 1.297 million Euros. [https://www.galeriekodl.cz/en/polozka/2432/](https://www.galeriekodl.cz/en/polozka/2432/) This is the highest recorded price paid for a painting by Filla.

## See also

- [Czech Cubism](/source/Czech_Cubism)

## References

1. Cooper, Philip. *Cubism*. London: Phaidon, 1995, p. 102. ISBN 0714832502

1. ["LAHODA, Vojtěch: Emil Filla"](https://search.mlp.cz/cz/titul/emil-filla/2664120/) (in Czech). *search.mlp.cz*. Retrieved 2020-09-27.

1. ["Emil Filla"](https://www.metmuseum.org/research-centers/leonard-a-lauder-research-center/research-resources/modern-art-index-project/filla). *The Metropolitan Museum of Art*. Retrieved 2023-11-09.

1. Gagnon, François-Marc (21 January 2002). Milos Reindl: Peintures 1967-1999. Montréal, Québec: Éditions 400 Coups. pp. 1–159. ISBN 2895400563. Retrieved 6 October 2016.

1. Dlouhý, Hynek (2022-07-26). ["Filla se vrátí do milované Peruce. Spory končí, obrazy budou opět na zámku"](https://zatecky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/emil-filla-galerie-zamek-peruc-20220726.html) (in Czech). Deník.cz. Retrieved 2023-06-20.

1. ["Emil Filla"](https://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/emil-filla). *sothebys.com*. Retrieved 2020-09-27.

## External links

- [Online biography](http://www.emil-filla.com/) on emil-filla.com

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Emil Filla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Filla) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Filla?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.