Václav Špála: Toy Chicken red - detail of advertisement

Licensed replica: Václav Špála: Toy Chicken red

Czechoslovakia 1920s

The hen is one of a set of distinctive toys that, together with peacocks and a rabbit, were made for the Artěl cooperative by the painter Václav Špála. Reproductions of the originals stored in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.

Václav Špála (1885 - 1946)

In the main, the contrast of cold blue and tones of warm red or pink. A typical feature of Václav Špála's paintings, with which we associate the work of this great artist. However, Špála's artistic range is much broader; in addition to landscape themes of azure waters, azure summer skies and plump female figures or floral still lifes in a vase, his work also includes graphic and design works. Špála was greatly influenced by French Cubism, but unlike the traditional Cubists, he used bright and bold colours. In addition to Cubism, Orphism and Fauvism, he found inspiration in Czech folk art, and through the combination of these influences he developed a very distinctive and unmistakable style.