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On 23 May 1860, in the picturesque Czech town Vraný (ca. 60 km from Prague, then part of the Austrian Empire, today – of the Czech Republic), was born Jaroslav František Julius Věšín. His father was Czech by origin and physician by trade, participated in the 1848 revolution, for which he was sentenced to death, later pardoned. His mother, of German origin, had a penchant for the arts (she herself played the piano), which she passed on to her six children.

In late 1876, Jaroslav Věšín was accepted into the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and enrolled in the studio of Antonín Lhota (1812–1905), a representative of the history and religious art school, professor and rector of the Prague Academy. Four years later, he moved to the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Throughout the second half of the 19th century, the Bavarian capital had been among the leading European cultural centres and an attractive place for artists. In Munich, Jaroslav Věšín came under the influence of the creative philosophy of Karl Theodor von Piloty (1826–1886), professor at the Academy and representative of the history painting, and of the colour palette of the genre painting of Piloty’s student and also a professor Otto Seitz (1846–1912). Jaroslav Věšín joined the studio of another artist – Józef Brandt (1841–1915), a Pole with an affinity for historical military subjects, who also studied under K. Piloty. While in Prague, Jaroslav Věšín became a member of the “Art Association for Bohemia” – a Czech society supporting the arts, considered as the most important one throughout its almost centennial existence.

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A special moment in the life of Jaroslav Věšín was his military service in the Austrian army. In the regiment in Bratislava, where he served, besides the Czechs there were many Slovaks. Through them he discovered the charm and the wealth of colour of the Slovak village. Drawings and watercolours were born, later petit genre paintings on Slovak subjects.
Jaroslav Věšín became seriously interested in hunting scenes. An avid hunter himself, he joined the hunting parties of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, at his invitation, with a commission to paint hunting scenes. A cycle of works emerged in which the artist expanded his talent for figural compositions.

Jaroslav Věšín’s colourful ethnographic compositions capturing the picturesque Slovak way of life, became his introduction into the international exhibitions of the Munich’s Glass Palace, which had opened in 1854 and had become the foremost venue for art exhibitions. These were organized by the Munich Artists’ Cooperative, royal privileged since 1868. The artistic style of this oldest association of free artists in Bavaria was distinguished by precision and naturalism that freed its signature history painting from the pathos of the previous centuries. Because of his ideological proximity to the Cooperative, between 1883 and 1909, Jaroslav Věšín was featured in eleven of its exhibitions. Later, he sympathized with the cluster that separated from the Cooperative (since 1901 – definitively), named after its founder, the Prince Regent of Bavaria Luitpold. Jaroslav Věšín felt an affinity with the aesthetics that prioritized the traditional genre of history painting – a bearer of national quintessence, with cautiously modern objectives and high artistic quality.

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Jaroslav Věšín’s participation in exhibitions in Prague, Vienna, Munich, Berlin, London, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris, Chicago, New York and the awards and distinctions he had amassed gained him a name and popularity, noticed also by Konstantin Velichkov – minister of public education in the third cabinet of Dr. Konstantin Stoilov (1894–1899). The minister himself had studied at the Florence Academia di Belle Arti under Professor Giuseppe Ciaranfi, and was one of the originators of the establishment (1896) of the State Drawing School in Sofia (today, the National Academy of Arts). Shortly before he exchanged his ministerial position for another (1897), K. Velichkov offered Jaroslav Věšín a professorship at the school.
The colourful Czech arrived in Bulgaria with his family and a few suitcases, to remain here until his death. At the turn of the two centuries, Bulgaria was steadfastly pursuing her national unification, rapidly shaking off the Orient, her sights set firmly on Europe. Modernity still battled with the colourful motley of the Revival lifestyle, and Jaroslav Věšín was mesmerized.

Between the autumn of 1897 and May of 1915, eighteen summers passed, complete with a sense of accomplishment, achievements, and occasionally – unfulfilled expectations. Until 1904, Jaroslav Věšín was a professor at the Drawing School, alongside other educated in Europe artists of post-Liberation Bulgaria: Anton Mitov, Ivan Angelov, Zheko Spiridonov, Petko Klisurov, as well as foreigners: the Czechs Ivan (Jan) Mrkvička, Josef Syllaba, Joseph Piter, the Lithuanian Jewish Boris Schatz, etc. Among his many students were names such as Nikola Petrov, Atanas Mihov, Elisaveta Konsulova-Vazova, Alexander Bozhinov, and many others.

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In 1904, he left the State Drawing School, disagreeing with the conservative models it imposed, determined to leave Bulgaria. Knyaz Ferdinand I, impressed with his work, together with the Ministry of War, sprung to change his mind and keep him in the country. Jaroslav Věšín was appointed chief artist to the Ministry of War and commissioned as official court painter. His paintings brought to life the image of the rising power of the army – disciplined, vibrant, beloved, and the pageantry undertone of the canvases certainly befitted.

The Balkan War became an equally defining moment for thousands of Bulgarians and for Jaroslav Věšín. He travelled to the frontlines on the very first days. With a camera and a sketchbook, he traversed hundreds of kilometres with the troops, from Stara Zagora, Svilengrad, Çatalca, Lozengrad, to Dimotika, and Adrianople. The familiar today compositions were created on site. He returned to Sofia in the late spring of 1913, in poor health, changed, visibly aged, “as if carrying his own heavy burden”. Shaken by the experience, Jaroslav Věšín began work on a cycle of large paintings, which he titled “Balkan Epic”, some of which are gathered in this exhibition: “Bayonet Charge”, “Army Supply Train Near the Ergene River”, “Base Depot”, “Field Hospital near Dimotika”, “Storming the fort of Ayvaz Baba”, “Before the Barbed Wire”. His paintings represent the terrifying face of war with its apocalyptic post-battle landscapes, with the mud and the corpses on the ploughed by the shells and ringing with the pain and moans earth.

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In Bulgaria, Jaroslav Věšín became part of the organized art life. In the spring of 1898, he took part in the Third General Art Exhibition in Sofia (1898) with works from his Munich period, and five created in Bulgaria, including “Threshing”, today, within the collections of Sofia City Art Gallery, featured in this exhibition. He was a member of the established in 1903 “Contemporary Art” cluster that brought together architects, artists, and writers seeking new modern forms of expression, and, since 1904, presented his paintings within the cluster’s exhibitions. He was included in the international shows of Bulgarian artists: the art and industry expos in Paris (1900), Saint Louis (1904), Liege (1905). In 1904, he was among the founders of the Union of South Slavic Artists “Lada”, with representatives from Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. In 1905 he was elected as chairman of the Bulgarian section, and a year later – as honorary chairman.

Jaroslav Věšín had long ceased to be perceived as a foreigner. His paintings on the pages of history and art textbooks still accompany generations of Bulgarians. He exerted extraordinary influence on late 19th–early 20th century Bulgarian art and painting. His champion were people – in the field, in the markets, and in the war. His subjects came from different social strata – vivid, with distinct individuality, memorable. In his works – from the compositions treating hunting scenes and the customs of the Slavs, to his military art canvases, open an art world of tints, faces, and heroes, born from the vivacious and vibrant spirit of an artist for whom borders were not a state of mind.