Josef Mařatka

Josef Mařatka (21 May 1874, Prague – 20 April 1937, Prague) was a Czech sculptor.

From 1889 to 1896, he studied at the School of Applied Arts under Celda Klouček, who was a paleontologist as well as a sculptor. In 1899, he attended the Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with Josef Václav Myslbek. The following year, he went to Paris and was briefly employed in the studios of Auguste Rodin. His first exhibition was held in Prague in 1902.

He began by responding to the influences he had absorbed from the expressionist movement, incorporating elements of symbolism and Art Nouveau. His most important work from this period is the Opuštěna Ariadna (Abandoned Ariadne, 1903). He later came under the influence of Antoine Bourdelle. After World War I, he returned to the styles he had learned from Myslbek, combining Neoclassicism with a bit of early Socialist Realism; for example, Praha svým vítězným synům (Prague's Victorious Sons) at the Emmaus Monastery.

The monument was destroyed during the German Occupation and restored in 1998.

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