Joza Uprka

Joža Uprka (1861-1940) was a Czech painter and graphic artist. He was born in Kněždub to a peasant family and his father was an amateur painter. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague under František Čermák, then at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, where he co-founded the student group “Škréta” with Alfons Mucha and others.

After returning home in 1888, he painted scenes of peasant life in Southern Moravia. He studied in Paris from 1892 to 1893 on a scholarship and exhibited at the Salon in 1894 with Mucha's help. His first major Prague exhibition was in 1897. He married in 1899 and settled in Hroznová Lhota, where his house became a meeting place for artists; his wife’s mental illness led to her institutionalization in 1905.

He later focused on etchings. From 1922 to 1937 he lived in Ilava and maintained a studio in the Slovak countryside. In 1928 he visited Dubrovnik. A major exhibition of his folk paintings was held in Uherské Hradiště in 1937. He died of kidney failure in 1940 and was buried in his birthplace.

His work combined elements of Impressionism and Art Nouveau to document the folklife of Southern Moravia.