Josef Gocar (1880–1945)

Josef Gocar was the most prolific of the Czech Cubists. As leading Czech academic and politician Jan Sokol joked, "Whatever was new was thought up by Janak but made by Gocar."

Gocar studied architecture from 1903 to 1905 at the College of Applied Arts in Prague under Jan Kotera, the godfather of Czech modern architecture. He then worked in Kotera's studio until 1908, taking part in some of his most important projects. From 1924–45, Gocar taught at the Academy of Arts.

His first major building in the Czech Cubist style was the House of the Black Madonna in Prague's Old Town – completed in 1912 and acclaimed not only for its unique modernist appearance but also for blending harmoniously with its historic setting. His other purely cubist works include the spa complex in Bohdanec in East Bohemia and the Bauer Villa near Kolín. Among the many suites of furniture designed by Gocar between 1910 and 1920, those for his own Prague flat and for actor Otto Boleska set the style for all Czech Cubist interiors.

From 1918 onwards, when the Hapsburg empire crumbled, Gocar and his colleague from the Czech Cubist movement Pavel Janak were at the forefront in developing a national style to celebrate the new independent state of Czechoslovakia. Rondo-Cubism was the result – a variation of cubism with rounded corners and Czech folk motifs. The most important example is the Czechoslovak Legions Bank in Prague.

From the mid-1920s, Gocar turned towards purism and later functionalism. In 1925, he designed the Czechoslovak pavilion at the 1925 Paris Exhibition and then spent the next 10 years on the town planning of the eastern Bohemian city of Hradec Kralove where he also designed many buildings.

Examples of his work are held in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague and the Museum of East Bohemia in Hradec Kralove.