Josef Čapek

For a Czech footballer (1902–1983), see Josef Čapek (footballer).

File:Langhans, Josef Čapek, 02.jpg

Josef Čapek in 1927

Josef Čapek (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjozɛf ˈtʃapɛk]; 23 March 1887 – April 1945) was a Czech artist who was best known as a painter, but who was also noted as a writer and a poet. He invented the word robot, which was introduced into literature by his brother, Karel Čapek.

Biography

Čapek was born in Hronov, Bohemia (Austria-Hungary, later Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic) in 1887. First a painter of the Cubist school, he later developed his own playful primitive style. He collaborated with his brother Karel on a number of plays and short stories; on his own, he wrote the utopian play Land of Many Names and several novels, as well as critical essays in which he argued for the art of the unconscious, of children, and of 'savages'. He was named by his brother as the true inventor of the term robot. As a cartoonist, he worked for Lidové Noviny, a newspaper based in Prague. Due to his critical attitude towards national socialism and Adolf Hitler, he was arrested after the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939. He wrote Poems from a Concentration Camp in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he died in 1945.

His illustrated stories 'Povídání o Pejskovi a Kočičce' ('All About Doggie and Pussycat') are considered classics of Czech children's literature.

Selection of his literary works

• Lelio, 1917
• Povídání o pejskovi a kočičce (All About Doggie and Pussycat), 1929, illustrated stories for children
• Stín kapradiny, 1930, novel
• Kulhavý poutník, essays, 1936
• Land of Many Names
• Básně z koncentračního tabora (Poems from Concentration Camp), published posthumously 1946
• Adam Stvořitel (Adam the Creator) – with Karel Čapek
• Dášeňka, čili život štěněte (Dashenka, or the life of a Puppy) – with Karel Čapek, illustrated by Josef
• Ze života hmyzu (Pictures from the Insects' Life) 1921 – with Karel Capek