Vaclav Vytlacil

Vaclav Vytlacil was born in New York City in 1892. His family relocated to Chicago, where he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. At the age of 20, he returned to New York, where he began studies at the Art Student’s League. From 1916-1921, he taught at the Minneapolis School of Art. Though his work at the Minneapolis School of Art, he was able to travel to Europe. In 1921, he began studies at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich. He became Hans Hoffman’s student and teaching assistant from 1922-1926. In 1928, he returned to New York and joined the Art Student’s League faculty and convinced Hans Hoffman to teach there, as well. Vytlacil then returned to Europe for further study and returned to New York in 1935. In 1936, he co-founded the American Abstract Artist’s group.

He continued teaching for the rest of his life, taking positions at the Art Student’s League, Queens College in New York and the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA, among others. Vytlacil had solo shows at the Carnegie Institute, the Montclair Art Museum and the University of Notre Dame, among others. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Student’s League, the Whitney Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, among others. In 1984, Vytlacil died in New York City at the age of 92.