Jaroslav Brůha

Life and work

He was born on 11 February 1889 in Prague. He first trained as a stucco worker, studied sculpture from 1908 to 1911 at the Prague School of Applied Arts under Josef Drahoňovský and from 1911 to 1917 at the Academy of Fine Arts under Josef Václav Myslbek, Stanislav Sucharda and Jan Štursa. He was influenced by Constantin Meunier, most evidently in the decoration of the Vienna branch of the Živnostenská banka, executed while he was still a student. While still a student he was awarded a prize for the statue Šimon Lomnický Begging on the Bridge. He was most productive between the wars; his work moves from late Symbolism towards social realism. In Prague he made statues on the corner houses of Podskalská and Ladova streets (1922), a group on the attic of the theatre of the Bohnice psychiatric hospital (1924), statues on the building Na Perštýně (1926) and reliefs on the accident insurance building on Senovážné náměstí (1931). The death date of 1976 is also supported by the collection of death notices in the National Gallery Archive.

Coins and medals

In medallic art he worked chiefly with sporting and Sokol subjects. He created the Lützow Shield of the Czechoslovak Sokol Community (1923) and the Tyrš Medal (1932). He won prizes in competitions for the Czechoslovak ducat, for the Comenius monument in Naarden and for an Olympic medal.

From the work in the AUREA range

The AUREA range includes his bronze medal with its original loop, catalogued to 1927, inscribed Tribute of the Sportsmen 1929 and Tribute to the Unknown Soldier 1930. The combination of sporting and commemorative military themes matches the kind of commissions Brůha undertook in the interwar years.