Miloslava Vrbova-

31 x 25 cm - oil on fiberboard

signed lower left: M Vrbová

♣ Droit de suite: ♣ A fee will be added to the purchase price pursuant to the right of the artist and her heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994, on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite).

Miloslava Vrbová-Štefková (Zinkau / Žinkovy, Czech Republic, 1909 – Freudenstadt, 1991) - Czech painter; after graduating from high school in Plzeň, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague from 1932 to 1938 under Max Švabynský. From 1937 to 1938, she was in Paris, where she continued her studies at the Académie des Beaux-Arts under Prof. František Kupka. Upon her return to the country, she held her first exhibition in Brno in 1940. From 1942 onward, she lived in Prague; that same year, she presented her works there in a solo exhibition titled “Paris.”
In the postwar years, she mainly painted works on the themes of dance and classical ballet. She found inspiration for these works at the Prague ballet school and in the rehearsal halls of the Prague National Theater. In 1951, she exhibited an entire series of paintings titled *Swan Lake*, which still adorns the halls of the Prague theater today. Between 1952 and 1962, she held numerous shows and solo exhibitions in the country, including in Prague, Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně, and Plzeň. From 1964, she lived in Germany and successfully exhibited in Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, as well as in Vienna, Salzburg, Lucerne, and Zurich. In 1969, she opened her own gallery in Obersdorf and held exhibitions in Barcelona and Montreal.
She was a highly regarded portrait painter; in the 1970s, she traveled to the U.S. to paint portraits of President Ronald Reagan’s family. In addition to her favorite subjects—dancers, ballet scenes, and portraits—she also painted landscapes and urban scenes from Prague, religious scenes (The Crucifixion in the church in Žinkov), still lifes, and flowers. Her paintings reveal a fascination with the art of Édouard Degas and inspiration drawn from the works of the French Post-Impressionists.