Viktor Oliva Biography

Viktor Oliva was a master of drawing, illustration, and painting born in Nove Straseci, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary 24th April, 1861. His main style was Art Nouveau. At the age of 17 he attended the Prague Academy of Art and studied under Frantisek Sequens, who respected his work greatly. He continued his studies at the Munich Academy. In 1888 he was drawn to the Montmartre area of Paris to be part of the ever rapidly expanding artistic community there. He lived there for some years and became good friends with other "Bohemian Parisiens" such as Lud?k Marold, Mikolas Ales, Jakub Arbes, and Karel Vit?zslav Masek. This group of actual Bohemians (from Bohemia) were right in the heart of the "Bohemian Revolution". In 1897 he was given the job of Images Editor at the very popular Czech language magazine Zlata Praha (Golden Prague). He held this job for 19 years. Shortly after he started work there, Oliva married a lovely girl named Anna Adamcova who was enamored with his talent. Not long after that, she gave birth to his son Viktor Oliva Jr. (also was an aspiring artist). The marriage didn't last long, as Anna ran away with a singer named Marak. Oliva was still able to spend some time with his son, which brought him very much joy.