Portrait photographique

Born at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, Frank Kupka studied from 1889 to 1892 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He painted works on historical and patriotic themes before moving to Vienna, where he studied theosophy and Eastern philosophy until the summer of 1896. He then decided to move to Paris, settling in Montmartre, where his compatriot Alfons Mucha already lived, and earning his living as an illustrator and poster artist.

In 1908, the publisher Romagnol commissioned him to illustrate Les Érinnyes by Leconte de Lisle, his first illustrated book. A further commission followed, for the Prométhée of Aeschylus and the Lysistrata of Aristophanes. The engravings were nearly finished by 1911, but the project stalled for lack of funding. It was more than ten years before Kupka could resume and complete these two original projects, eventually published by Librairie Auguste Blaizot.

This is the only known copy of this photograph signed and dated in this way by Kupka.

A similar print is held at the Wien Museum — unsigned — with an incorrect date (“probably 1899”). This is the only other occurrence of this image that we have been able to trace. Another photograph exists, taken one or two years earlier, by the Ephron studio, also in Vienna.