T. F. Simon (1877-1942) Czech, Signed Artist's Proof Aquatint Etching on Paper. Depicts a Parisian street beside a river with a bridge in the background on one side and apartments on the other, as people go about their daily lives buying flowers and strolling on the promenade. Signed in pencil bottom right. Several labels on the back, including one with attribution and the original printer with information about the piece. Framed.
Condition: Commensurate with age.
Overall Size: 21 1/2 x 24 x 1 in.
Sight Size: 12 1/2 x 14 1/4 in.
Tavík František Šimon was born on May 13th, 1877 in Železnice, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). Born František Šimon, he later adopted the additional name “Tavík,” which was his mother’s maiden name, generally signing his work T. F. Šimon. As a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague he received a stipend that allowed him to travel to Italy, Belgium, England, and France. He had his first solo exhibition in Prague in 1905, and a Paris exhibition in 1906. He married Vilma Kracík on February 17th, 1906, with whom he had five children. In 1917, he became a founding member of the Hollar Association of Czech Graphic Artists, which he later chaired. After spending ten years based in Paris, Šimon returned to Prague, where he eventually became a professor at his alma mater in 1928. For much of his working life his style was strongly influenced by the French Impressionists and Japanese printmaking techniques, in particular color aquatints with soft ground etching. Šimon was also a master of the mezzotint but completed very few prints in this difficult medium, most of them being female nudes in subtle tones of black. He began a voyage around the world in 1926 that lasted two years and took him through New York City, London, the Netherlands, Spain, Morocco, India, and Japan among other places, views of which filled his work and helped him develop his multi-cultural style. On his return he compiled his correspondence and released the book “Listy z cesty kolem světa” (Letters from Around the World), which was finally translated into English in 2014. His final years were marred by health issues due to heavy smoking, and he was confined to working at Prague instead of abroad, passing away from a stroke on December 19th, 1942 during the Nazi occupation. Despite being a successful painter, etcher, and woodcut artist in his lifetime, the devastation of the country during World War II and the subsequent cultural purges of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia left him largely forgotten until he was rediscovered in the early 2000s, and his work has received greater attention and praise in recent years.
Commensurate with age.
