Jaroslav Bejvl

Life and work

He was born on 13 April 1941 in Janovice nad Úhlavou. From 1956 to 1960 he studied the shaping of art objects at the secondary school of applied arts in Prague-Žižkov. From 1962 he worked as a lighting designer at today's Preciosa-Lustry in Kamenický Šenov, producing thousands of designs, among them the set of light fittings for the restored Estates Theatre in Prague. He died on 28 June 2016; sources differ on the place of death (Česká Kamenice or Kamenický Šenov). In 2014 he received the Liberec Region Governor's Honour for his lifetime contribution to glassmaking and medallic art. His son, Jaroslav Bejvl the younger, is also a glass designer.

Coins and medals

He devoted himself to medals and plaquettes from 1978. According to the Czech Wikipedia he made 360 plaster models over thirty years and worked regularly with Česká mincovna. His design was used for the 20 haléř circulation coin issued by the Czech National Bank in 1993. He designed the silver 500 Kčs commemorative coin for the centenary of the birth of Josef Lada and further commemoratives, among them for the millennium of Břevnov Monastery and the centenary of the birth of Ondřej Sekora. His best-known medals include portraits of T. G. Masaryk and Edvard Beneš and a bronze replica of the Golden Bull of Sicily.

From the work in the AUREA range

The AUREA range includes his silver medal for the 80th anniversary of the death of Franz Kafka (2004), 925 fine, 40 mm, in a wooden case. Its portrait treatment reflects his long work on medal series devoted to figures of Czech history and culture.