Olbram Zoubek was born in April 1926 in the Prague district named Žižkov. The arrival of a new teacher of creative art at the Prague vocational school, at which students began to learn sculpture instead of drawing, was an important step in his career as a sculptor. The young Olbram found a talent for this art within himself and decided to take up sculpture as a career. On finishing education shortly after the War he applied for a place at the Academy of Creative Arts, but was not admitted. However, he got to the School of Arts and Industrial Design , which in the end proved to be a stroke of luck as a number of renowned artists were teaching at there at the time. Olbram Zoubek was assigned to the studio of Professor Josef Vágner, who brought together only the most talented artists into his group. One of these students was Eva Kmenová, who later became a world-renowned sculptor and also Olbram's first wife.
Josef Vagner also taught his students restoration and this was a great gift which Zoubek used throughout his life. In fact, he publically disagreed with the communist regime and therefore was unable to work freely, or to exhibit and sell his works, hence restoration became his main source of income. He worked on the restoration of the sgrafitto in the ball room at Prague Castle and, based on this experience he was commissioned to restore the outer wall decorations on Litomyšl Castle. His time spent working outside the capital was meant as a punishment of some kind, a period of exile, but it was also a happy period. He worked here with similarly-affected colleagues, the excellent artists Zdeněk Palcr, Václav Boštík and Stanislav Podrázský. Together they restored the original castle sgrafittoes, and also had the opportunity to use their artistic license in those parts that were not preserved, thanks to which the Litomyšl Castle is not only a wonderful renaissance monument, but is also a huge gallery of modern art by illustrious Czech artists. During the 17 seasons of work in progress, Olbram Zoubek got married for the second time in Litomyšl and lived between Prague and Litomyšl, therefore he donated his sculpture collection, built up throughout his life, to this exhibition in the castle cellars. Olbram Zoubek passed away on 15th June 2017.
List of exhibitions sculptures:
| 1958 Victims 1958 Polana 1958 Jasan 1960 Hands towards the Sun 1961 Scaffolding Builder 1961 Hands with the Sun 1961 Cheerful Construction 1963 Dying Man 1963 Winner 1963 Messenger 1965 Pillar I (Boys') - Kuros 1965 Pillar II (Girls') - Kora 1965 Ivo Loos 1965 Jiří Malátek 1966 You 1966 I 1966 Three Walkers 1966 Boundary Mark 1966 Furrow 1967 Walkers Greeting Each Other 1967 Father, Mother and Son 1968 Snake with a Wing 1968 Dream of a Snake 1968 Snake 1970 Walker 1970 Prometheus 1970 Genius of the Nation 1971 Scientific and Technological Revolution |
1971 Adam, Eve and the Serpent 1971 The Father of Fathers, the Mother of Mothers and the Son 1971 The Guards (Jan Palach, Jan Zajíc) 1972 The Runner 1972 Prometheus 1973 Family 3: Eva 1973 Family 3: Olbram 1973 Family 3: Jasan 1973 Family 3: Polana 1976 Standing Lady 1976 Striding Young Man 1976 Standing Lady 1984 Lady Standing Up 1984 Body of a Lady Lying Down 1984 Kuros' Body 1984 Torso of a Welcoming Lady 1984 Torso of a Lady 1984 Body of a Kora with Drapery 1984 Lady with Falling Hair 1985 Breast and Shoulders of a Fighter from Aulis 1985 Fighter from Aulis 1985-86 Stentor the Messenger 1985-86 Lady from Chalkis 1985-86 Menelaus 1985-86 Clytemnestra 1985-86 Agamemnon 1985-86 Iphigenia |
1985-86 Achilleus 1985-86 Phoenix the Old Man 1985-86 Achaeans 1985-86 Talthybius - the Priest 1986 František Husák in the Role of Agamemnon 1986 Jan Přeučil in the Role of Menelaus 1988 Clytemnestra the Queen 1989 Iphigenia before the Sacrifice 1989 Recreationers 1990 Falling Man 1990 Stricken Man 1991 Warped Torso 1991 Degression 1991 Eva the Elderberry Soul 1992 Vladimír 1992 Olbram! 1992 The Other River Bank 1992 Zdena 1992 Alena 1992 Čestmír 1992 Mirek 1993 You and I 1995 Annunciation 1995 Hynek, Vilém, Jarmila! 1996 Sergej 1998 Libuše 1998 With Zdeněk 1998 With Jindřich |
