PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Klazar, Josef
TI  - Prague footprints of Jaroslav Pantaleon Major : Work of a Pupil of the Beuron Art School as a Picture of the Time
Die Prager Spuren von Jaroslav Pantaleon Major : Das Werk eines Schülers der Beuroner Kunstschule als Abbild seiner Zeit
DP  - 2019 Jun 15
TA  - Staletá Praha
PG  - 51--97
VI  - 35
IP  - 1
AID - 10.56112/sp.2019.1.03
IS  - 02316056
AB  - The biographical study introduces in detail the hitherto not very well-known Beuron painter, restorer and organiser of the art projects, layman brother from Prague's Emmaus Monastery, Jaroslav Pantaleon Major (1869-1936). The author captures his work in all the complex aspects of his rich life and cultural context at the time. Major is presented not only as a pupil of the Beuron Art School, painter, illustrator, restorer, designer of religious paintings and liturgical objects and church furniture, but also as a capable organizer of activities related to art projects, a proficient businessman and owner of the Atelier of Religious Art, well capable of using his knowledge and contacts from the ecclesiastical environment. However, his attempts to invent materials suitable for the artistic practice and everyday life of the clergy, and for the satisfactory use of ordinary households, nowadays seem curious.A completely unique insight into the position of visual artists during the First World War is provided in the chapter on uncovering and restoring baroque frescoes of Cosma Damian Asam in the Church of St. Nicholas in the Old Town of Prague, under Major's leadership in 1916 attended by outstanding painters such as Josef Ullmann, Karel Špilar, Oldřich Blažíček, Václav Špála, František Jakub, František Xaver Naske etc. Similarly engaging is the characterization of other personalities of Czech Catholic Modernism and Catholic communities in Austria-Hungary and the First Czechoslovak Republic.The study is based on an unprecedented extensive archive and field research, including the period press, Jaroslav Major's private estate and the yet not fully reviewed biographies from the Nepomucenum archive in Rome. The possibilities of this research were far from being exhausted.