Kupka Frantisek Biography
František Kupka (Opočno, 23 September 1871 – Puteaux, 24 June 1957) was a Czech painter, one of the greatest exponents of abstract painting and Orphism. Kupka's abstract works arise from realism, which then evolved into pure abstract art. He was deeply impressed by the first Manifesto of Futurism, published in 1909 in Le Figaro and at the end of the 1910s, Kupka embraced the coloristic concept of the Fauves (Gallien's Gusto 1909-1910, Family Portrait 1910). Kupka arrives at abstraction after a long research work. Since 1908, his illustrations in his magazine "Prometheus" reflect a great artistic research: the author questions himself at length about perspective, making many studies both in his illustrations and also in his paintings. With his painting "The Piano Keys" from 1909 he marked a break in his representational style. His work became increasingly abstract around 1910-11, reflecting his theories on movement, color and the relationship between music and painting (Orphism). His characters gradually become confused, as in a "moving" photograph. Movement and time are worked by shadows and color changes. Between 1910 and 1911 he produced a painting entitled "Madame Kupka between the verticals", on which his wife's face is enclosed between the vertical lines. From that moment on, geometric shapes impose themselves on his art and abstraction. His first abstract works date back to 1910, with impressive chromatic exuberance, which he defined as "art inobjectiv", non-objective art, with which he tried to reach beyond appearances, a reality of a philosophical or even spiritualist nature. In 1911, he attended the meetings of the Puteaux Group (Golden Section). He discusses art, science, mathematics, and various trendy concepts, while presenting his paintings and theories to other artists. The group is very interested in Cubist works towards which Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia and Kupka remain skeptical, unlike Albert Gleizes and John Metzinger who defend them.
