Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University

DAC Collection Artist Information

Frantisek Kupka

Czech painter, active France

Brief biography, in most instances from the Union List of Artist Names® Online:
Pioneer of abstract painting in Europe. From 1887 until 1891 he studied at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts and at the Vienna Bildenden Künste 1892-1893. Influenced by the painter and philosopher Karl Diefenbach. Settled in Paris in 1895 and earned his living as an illustrator and cartoonist. He continued to illustrate books as he developed a separate abstract painting style that emerged out of Symbolism. Along with Robert Delaunay and Kandinsky, he developed a non-objective style preoccupied with musical rhythym and color. Kupka was interested in optics, physiology, and anthropology. Guillaume Apollinaire coined the term Orphism around 1912 in response to the work of Kupka, Francis Picabia, Robert Delaunay, and others who were developing their own response to Cubism and Futurism.

Artist ID number in the Union List of Artist Names®: ULAN 500006023.
The ULAN link above leads to a cataloging authority record at the Getty Research Institute.

Objects related to Frantisek Kupka:

Frantisek Kupka 24 Mai – 24 Juin 1960 / Kupka / Gouaches Aquarelles Pastels / Galerie Karl Flinker / 34 rue du Bac, Paris, 1960 Color lithograph
http://dac-collection.wesleyan.edu/art36518 is a persistent link to this page with no user-session information.

ULAN biographical content is displayed with permission of the Getty Research Institute. Some ULAN content in some DAC artist records has been lightly edited. Content from the Getty Research Institute is © 2018 The J. Paul Getty Trust. All rights reserved.

Information here was last updated on 4/10/2018. Some is from older cataloging. Most objects acquired through 4/10/2018 are represented; cataloging is in process for some objects. We continue to add and update content. Please contact the DAC Registrar of Collections to suggest corrections with citations. Captions embedded in DAC images have basic information as of the time the digital image was made; details and updates appear on object pages.

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