Jaroslav Fragner

25 December 1898, Prague – 3 January 1967, Prague

Jaroslav Fragner studied at the Czech Technical University in Prague, in Antonín Engel’s atelier, but he did not graduate and began working as an independent architect. In the 1930s, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, under Josef Gočár. After graduation, he travelled to the USA, together with the artist and journalist Adolf Hoffmeister. Together with architects Evžen Linhart, Vít Obrtel and Karel Honzík, he formed an unofficial group called the Purist Four, active in the 1920s and advocating pure architecture, free of ornaments. Fragner was also a member of art groups Devětsil and the Architect’s Club. He became a member of the Mánes Association of Fine Artists, where he was the president of the architects’ section, vice-president of the association and from 1939 its president as well. He also taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and was its rector from 1954 to 1958.

Fragner’s early works evoked elements of Cubism, but soon he adopted the modern view of architecture in the spirit of purism and functionalism, although he never understood the latter dogmatically. His projects were influenced by an organic concept of modernism, the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Fragner designed residential buildings (villas, family houses, cottages), as well as gardens. Fragner also dealt with the question of contemporary monumentality of non-residential buildings and monument conservation. His best known works include the Infants’ Pavilion of the Orphanage in Mukachevo (Ukraine), the ESSO power station (Kolín), the Medicine B. F. company (Dolní Měcholupy), the building of Merkur insurance company (Prague) and a number of private villas, e.g. Movila, Orvila (both in Nespeky), Buvila (Kostelec nad Černými lesy), etc. He dedicated a large part of his work, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, to the restoration of architectural monuments and historic buildings, the most significant of which are Karolinum and the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague.