Josef Vachal (1884 - 1969)

A Walpurgis Night's Dream, 1914


Elementary Plan of Passions and Instincts


Decorations for Czech Puppets


Incubus (Succubus), 1907


Temptation of Saint Anthony


Satanic Invocation, 1909


Samiel on Sonnberg


Demon Heads


Alchemist, 1910





Revolution, 1928


The Cloaca of the Street, 1910





Astarte's Mass, 1907


Sabbath, 1911


Dead Man's Dream, 1918


Messenger, 1915


Josef Belial, illustration from "The Devil's Garden," 1924


Moorland Demon, 1932

"Josef Váchal (September 23, 1884 in Milavče near Domažlice – May 10, 1969 in Studeňany) was a Czech writer, painter, printmaker and book-printer.

Váchal was the son of Josef Aleš-Lyžec and Anna Váchalová - his parents never married. He was brought up by his grandparents, Jan Aleš and Jana Alešová, in the southern Bohemian town of Písek, where he entered grammar school but left it prematurely. In 1898 Váchal moved to Prague, where he studied bookbinding and befriended his father's cousin, the painter Mikoláš Aleš. He was influenced by Art Nouveau during that time.

In 1900 he wrote his first poems, by 1903 he joined the Prague Theosophy Society, in 1904 he entered the Painter School and later became a respected painter and graphic designer. In 1910 Váchal published his first two books. Between January 1912 and January 1913 he enjoyed a short but intense friendship with the mystical Catholic writer Jakub Deml. In March 1913, Váchal married Máša Pešulová, and began a friendship with the collector J. Portman; Portman's house Portmoneum is now the Váchal Museum in Litomyšl.

From 1916 to 1918 Váchal served as a soldier on the Italian front. During 1940, expressing resistance against Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, he moved from Prague to the village of Studeňany ('tusculum' or 'exile'). After the communist revolution of 1948 in Czechoslovakia, he became more socially and culturally isolated and his works were rarely seen in public. He lived in obscurity on the family estate of his partner, Anna Macková, in Studeňany. Even with the coming of Prague Spring in the late 1960s his situation didn’t significantly change. He was, however, awarded the state title of Meritorious Artist (Zasloužilý umělec) shortly before his death in 1969. He is buried in the village of Radim near Jičín, eastern Bohemia." - quote source


Artworks found at www.vachal.cz, Album of the Magic Search Exhibit. A video showcasing the entirety of a recently published book of Vachal's art can be viewed here.

Parade of Monsters, 1560-1600

No artist is attached to this series of etchings in the Italian school/style dated from 1560-1600.  Artworks found at The British Museum.

Ottaviano Dandini - Witches At A Black Mass, 18th Century

Artwork found at Soethby's.

William Holbrook Beard - The Witches Convention, 1876

Artwork found at Soethby's.

See more works by William Holbrook Beard in this previous post.

Gaston Hoffmann (1883-1977)

Le roman fantastique, 1930

Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1936

Artworks found at Opus-Mirabilis and Antic Store.

Ludwig Hesshaimer (1872 - 1956)

Idiocy, 1925-30

Cocaine, 1925-30

Madhouse, 1925-30

Paranoia, 1925-30


The World War, A Dance of Death, Goethe - "And when mortals fall silent in their torment, A god granted me the power of expressing my suffering."1921


Spirits of the Machine - "Death has freed the spirits of the machines, each spitting steel and fire with horrible delight,"


The Mountain of Skulls - "Too much suffering pervades the world. Death has grown tired of killing."


Power Corrupted - "Death drips poison into the heart of Power, and the night of evil descends on mankind."


Light and Love Conquer - "And behold, several thousand little children embrace belief in the future, Light and Love are victorious!"


Black Spirits - "On bloody steeds Death sends the black spirits into the land, hatred sets the world ablaze!"

The End - "Life cries out, Death is Dead!! "Procreation" is the cosmos's highest offering!"

Horsemen of the Apocalypse - "And over man and beast and earth the horsemen of the apocalypse spread unspeakable horrors."

Ancient Battle - "Death awakes the furies of war, the people are gripped like lightning and wind."


 "I call these pages a Dance of Death. They are memories of an endless series of them that my mind conjured up in sleepless nights of experiences that weigh heavily on my heart and mind. I dipped my pen in my heart's blood and filled these pages with my love. The horrors that shook me in the fearful hours of the war and the hope that did not leave me, not even in my darkest hours, these I wrote down here as I felt them.

 My work was created in dark times. Painful suffering often paralyzed my work. The day filled me with heavy apprehension; only the night was mine, that wonderful peace of the silent night. I thank her for allowing me to put into art what tortured me to the breaking point in the years of the war.

At the terrible end of the war, in those months of deep melancholy, my work began to take form. Pages fell into place and the work took on a finalized, cyclical form. The hope of the reconciliation of man, the victory of life over death, reached across the pages for each other from the first to the last and allowed me to complete my difficult journey."

Written on New Year's Eve in the year 1920.

Vienna Ludwig Hesshaimer


"In Hesshaimer's foreward to "The World War, A Dance of Death" he explains how the creation of this portfolio, completed over a span of several years, was a form of catharsis and a way for him to cope with nightmares and waking memories of his time served in the war.  The constant artillery barrages, gruesome deaths, and deplorable conditions of World War 1 gave rise to a condition among soldiers known as "shell shock." Soldiers reported symptons, such as tremors, amnesia, headaches, and hypersensitivity to noise, without exhibiting wounds.

We cannot know for sure whether Hesshaimer himself suffered from shell shock, but the nightmares and melancholy he described suggest that he might have." quote source

Artworks found at Ketterer Kunst

Hanus Folkman (1876 - 1936)

Three Swords, early 20th C

Eternal Youth, Life Without End, early 20th C


Animal Norka, early 20th C

Titles are crude translations from the original Czech titles found somewhere in the labyrinth of this site.

Hanus Folkman was a Czech artist largely known for his work in the puppet theater. While his work has proven difficult to find online, there is one example of his puppets at the bottom of this article covering Czech Puppets.

 A brief biography on the artist can be viewed here.

Viktor Oliva - Illustration from "National Fairy Tales and Legends" by V. B. Trebizskeho, Late 19th - Early 20th C

Hanus Schwaiger (1854 - 1912)

"Hanuš Johann Peter Paul Schwaiger (1854-1912) was a Czech painter, designer, graphic artist and professor, best known for his fairy-tale illustrations. He was the only son of six children born to a Jewish ironmonger, but was baptized as a Catholic. In 1865, he was enrolled at the local gymnasium, but failed his courses and transferred to the Realschule in Budweis, where he met a teacher who encouraged his artistic interests. In 1873, despite this, he followed his father's wishes and entered the Vienna Business School. He soon ignored his studies and spent more time at the local art schools, prompting his parents to bring him home to work in the family business. He was not deterred, however, and devoted his time to painting when his father was absent.

Going against his family, he returned to Vienna in 1874 and audited classes at the Academy of Fine Arts. After further clashes with his father, he finally prevailed and was given the money to enroll. Carl Wurzinger and Josef Matyáš Trenkwald were among his instructors there. Some of his first works were purchased by Professor Hans Makart, but later attempts to be financially independent failed and he returned, penniless, to his hometown in 1881. Eventually, he found work as an illustrator and was able to visit the Netherlands in 1888, where he became interested in Dutch architecture and softened his painting style.

The following year, Joža Uprka invited him to visit Moravian Slovakia. During his stay there, in Hroznová Lhota, he got married to a local schoolteacher. He had to leave, in 1891, apparently because he was being pursued by creditors and, on his wife's suggestion, moved to Bystřice pod Hostýnem where they lived in a forester's house, courtesy of Baron von Loudon. In 1896, they were able to travel to Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy, where he received a commission to copy the frescoes at the Monastery of the Madonna of Lourdes in Verona.

In 1906, he developed a tumor on his tongue. He underwent a successful surgery in the Netherlands but, after a few years, the tumor returned. After several more surgeries, it was decided to remove his tongue entirely, and he died of complications not long after.

His home in Prague, the "Villa Tara", was declared a national landmark in 1921 and currently serves as a hotel." - quote source

Most images found here. Long, Wide and Sharpeyes found at Arthouse Hejtmanek.