Josef Skupa

Josef Skupa ( born January 16, 1892 in Strakonice, † January 8, 1957 in Prague) was a Czech puppet. He was one of " National Artist of Czechoslovakia ".

Life

Skupa studied at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Prague and worked as a set designer in the Pilsen city theater and as a designer at Škoda. After the First World War, he founded the first and only professional Czechoslovakian puppet theater. Between 1919 and 1926 he created his famous puppets Spejbl and Hurvínek. 1920 first arose Spejbl as a naive, pompous and somewhat narrow-minded philistines. He quickly became the main character of the theater. 1926 carved Gustav Nosek ( 1887-1974 ) the cheeky, but awakened son Hurvínek. In 1930 he opened the first modern puppet theater. Through the puppets Skupa practiced with the help of satire criticism of the German occupiers. Then he was arrested and in 1944 transferred to the Gestapo prison in Dresden. The puppets held by the Gestapo in Pilsen under wraps. During the American air raid on Dresden Skupa managed to escape from prison.

After the Second World War, the Marionette Theatre Spejbl and Hurvínek was reopened and gained worldwide fame within a short time. After Skupa's death, his wife Jirina Skupova led (1895-1970) continued the theater, Miloš Kirschner took over the management. Skupa was a founding member of the Union Internationale des Marionettes and from 1933 until his death its president.