Emil Filla (1882 – 1953)

Emil Filla, a well-known early Czech Cubist painter and member of the Mánes Union of Fine Arts was the leader of the Avante Garde art movement in Prague between the two world wars. Born in Moravia in 1882, Filla spent most of his childhood in Brno and later in life moved to the capital city of Prague where he studied at the Prague Academy. Emil Filla was powerfully intrigued with the Avant Garde works of Picasso and Braque and their strong influence shines through in Filla’s Cubist sculptures (that along with sculptures by fellow countryman Otto Gutfreund were the earliest Cubist sculptures produced in the art world). During WWII Filla was arrested by the Gestapo alongside fellow writers and artists and imprisoned in Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps. He survived to tell the tale, returned to Prague and taught at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design.