Procházka´s Lions

Author: F. X. Procházka

The lion and lioness were painted by painter František Xaver Procházka (1887 – 1950) as early as 1923, but as an educational illustration the painting was printed eleven years later. The authorities of the First Republic were very serious about educational pictures, their policy was to replace Austrian educational materials by Czech ones, and the careful selection of authors was in accordance with it. Professor Jiří Janda (Yes, the founder of Prague Zoo!) was the original editor of zoological series of the educational illustrations, and it was F. X. Procházka, who broke through most successfully among those painters who were given the opportunity to work on the series. The lion couple depicted is but one of his twenty eight paintings which were used for decades in Czech schools.

At the time of the First Republic, F. X. Procházka was the top scientific illustrator of zoological publications. He met Professor Janda immediately after his arrival to Prague at 1919 and cooperated with him on many of his books. Working alongside him also was another prominent ornithologist of that time, Dr Josef Jirsík. Despite the fact that he did not have deep pockets - he could not afford to buy expensive oil paints in tubes, but had them mixed by a chemist in Brandýs into cans - Procházka travelled around Europe and painted animals in zoos. We know that he had visited the zoos in Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg and Amsterdam. As Prague was still waiting for its zoo to be established, Procházka´s paintings had an exclusive and high educational value, and supported Professor Janda´s effort to create Prague Zoo. Comments such as “Children will be surely delighted to see exotic animals in good paintings in lieu of our having any zoo in Prague, save a bear show,” appeared regularly in the press reviews of Procházka ´s exhibits.

F. X. Procházka had painted many species of animals; nevertheless I associate him primarily with the portrayal of lions. Of course, I see his illustrations of lions and lionesses, but above all for his singular painting of the lioness Šárka (who was one of the first animals in Prague Zoo, and is recorded as number one the record book). F. X. Procházka displayed an oil painting of Šárka, which we know only from low quality newspaper reproduction, at the turn of 1930 and 1931 in Rubeš´s salon at Národní třída. As then was reported by the media, “by selling the painting (Prague Zoo) hopes it will raise enough funds to purchase of a groom for our lion bride”. The proceeds were really used to buy the lion Ctirad and F. X. Procházka then became – using modern terminology – an important sponsor of Prague Zoo.

In addition to it, Procházka´s drawing of the lioness Šárka was extremely important for the Zoo as well. It became the centrepiece of its first “logo” and was used on letterheads and envelopes. It has been preserved, for instance, on a letter addressed to the District Saving Bank in Uhlířské Janovice.

It seemed that by opening Prague Zoo F. X. Procházka lost his big theme. Surprisingly, we do not know if he further cooperated with the Zoo in any way. However, at least a part of his breathtaking work has remained preserved in books and educational illustrations. First I have bought his Lions. Later I added to our collection a number of his other educational paintings. We need just a few more and we will have enough material to prepare an exhibit commemorating František Xaver Procházka and his invaluable work.

Miroslav Bobek, the Prague Zoo’s director