French harbor scene. Gouache on paper, dated 1960. 24 x 19 in. (sight), 31 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. Rudolf Kundera (sometimes known as Rodolph (e) Kundera ) is a Czech painter , born in Brno in Moravia , the March 9 , 1911 installed in France since 1939, died on January 9 , 2005 at the age of 93 in Cassis ( Bouches-du-Rhône ). His father, master dyer, died when he was still a baby, and it was his mother who transmitted his artistic tastes. 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 graduated in 1936.He then obtained a scholarship for Rome , where he created a whole series of paintings for churches, as well as landscapes and portraits. He gained important notoriety and became, in particular, a friend of Bohuslav Martin. At the beginning of the Second World War , he fled to Paris. He became friends with French people, including the writer Claude Mauriac and the poet Paul Valéry . To flee the occupation he left Paris, Nantes and Toulouse he won the South of France. He will be received by Countess Lily Pastré in Marseille , which hosts many artists. He joins the Resistance and continues to paint. A realist painter, he is best known as a colorist, with a strong personality.Landscapes of Provence , folkloric scenes of Moravia , paintings inspired by the circus, or portraits of many personalities of his time were presented in about fifty exhibitions in several European countries and in the United States before being disseminated in many galleries and private collections. In addition to these, his paintings are in two museums in Marseille: the Cantini Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. It is only 47 years after his departure from Czechoslovakia that he can finally display his paintings in Brno. In 1996, the Czech of Marseille 4 has the long-awaited opportunity to show his work to the inhabitants of the city of his childhood in a vast retrospective on the occasion of which he receives honorary title of the city of Brno . He was a corresponding member of the Marseille Academy .

Good condition