Vladimír Suchánek

Vladimir Suchánek

Vladimir Suchánek (February 12, 1933 – January 25, 2021) was a Czech graphic artist and postage stamp designer.

Early life and career

Suchánek was born on 12 February 1933 in Nové Město nad Metují. He studied at Charles University in Prague between 1952 and 1954, then went to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague until 1960, where he specialized in graphic arts under Professor Silovský.

He graduated from the Pedagogical University in 1954 and The Academy of Art in Prague in 1961. His work has been exhibited in many major collections.

He was President of the Hollar Society, the leading Czech graphic art organization.

Stamp designer

He was the designer of several stamps for the Czech Republic, but he also was the designer of the stamp for the 1000th anniversary of the death of St. Adalbert in 1997. This stamp was released in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Poland and in the Vatican.

He is a member of Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar, having been their chairman since 1995. In 1977 he was appointed a member of European Academy of Science and Arts with the seat in Vienna.

Suchánek came from a generation that played a crucial role in the development of Czech art in the second half of the 20th century. Suchánek's graphic prints reveal a rich imagination and characterful poetry, but also an expertise of colour lithography, which is his graphic technique of choice. He has achieved international recognition in this field, collecting 27 top awards for his work.

Shows

By 2008 he had held 146 one-man shows in the Czech Republic and abroad – in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Japan, the US, Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Slovakia. He has taken part in almost 300 exhibitions, including international biennials of graphic art – Ljubljana, Kraków, Paris, Trieste, Grenchen, Buenos Aires, Frechen, Bradford, Biella, Rijeka, Segovia, Tokyo, Heidelberg, Nuremberg, Malbork, Lodz, Frederikshavn, Berlin, Miami, Toronto, Fredrikstad and Beijing.