Academic painter Jan Kojan.

People and their landscapes

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Jan KojanAs in many other villages, in the 1920s Kojakovice had a war memorial made for those who died in WW I. For the villagers, this memorial was special because it was the work of the well-known Czech academic painter Jan Kojan, a native of Kojakovice.

He was born on August 10, 1886 as one of five children of a local cottager. From young age, he showed talent and in 1912, he enrolled in the Prague Academy of Fine Arts. In July1914, he had to leave due to the mobilization for WW I. He returned to the Academy in the year 1919. He continued his studies while also being employed as teacher for arts at different schools. He concluded his academic studies in 1922.

Jan Kojan - rybnik    Jan Kojan - Statek

His work is strongly inspired by and connected to rural South Bohemia, the place where he spent his youth and to which he kept coming back all his life. His paintings and drawing often show village views or its people and their work, especially the fish farming. During his life, he made three sculptures: the war memorials in Kojakovice and in Branna and the grave marker on the grave of his sister on the parish cemetery of Mladosovice. Jan Kojan died on June 5, 1951 and is buried in the nearby cemetery of Mladosovice. Most of his paintings and drawings remaining after his death are in the Ales South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboka nad Vltavou. The Kojakovice Museum now has copies of Kojan’s work on display as part of the exhibition “People and their Landscape”.

Opening hours Kojakovice Museum

June through September daily from 10 - 17, closed Thursdays.

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© Robert Dulfer (2021)