Pavel Janak (1882–1956)

Pavel Janak was an architect, town planner, designer and leading theorist of the Czech Cubist movement. He studied in Vienna between 1906 and 1908 under Otto Wagner and began his career in the studio of Jan Kotera, the most important Czech architect of the turn of the century.

In 1911 he became the main voice of the Czech Cubists. Criticizing contemporary architecture in tens of outspoken articles, he claimed that only through the violence and disruption of an angled plane cutting through horizontal and vertical lines could you animate lifeless matter and create structures bursting with dynamic energy. His article The Prism and The Pyramid, published in 1911 in the Czech magazine Art Monthly, was a Czech Cubist manifesto.

Too busy theorizing to build much on a large scale, Pavel Janak is best known for the ceramics he designed in 1911 for Artel (a Wiener Werkstatte-style manufacturing cooperative). A major influence on the Art Deco style, his black and white coffee set was one of the first to use the zigzag pattern in modern design. And, with its sharp points and folded planes, his crystal-inspired box has become one of the most enduring symbols of the Czech Cubist movement. Janak also designed many sets of furniture for private clients – including, for instance, his triangular backed chair which was a challenge to even the best furniture makers.

From 1918 onwards, when the Hapsburg empire crumbled, Janak and fellow Czech Cubist Josef Gocar were at the forefront in developing a national architectural style to celebrate the new independent state of Czechoslovakia. Rondo-Cubism was the result – a variation of Czech Cubism with rounded corners and Czech folk motifs.

From 1923 onwards Janak designed mostly in the Dutch bare brick style, which later led him to purism and functionalism. In 1936 he took over from Josip Plecnik as the head architect of Prague Castle. After 1945 he worked primarily on restoration of historic buildings. His most important architectural projects include Hlavkuv most in Prague 1909–12, the remodelling of a baroque house in Pelhrimov in 1913 and the early 1920s projects of the crematorium in Pardubice and Palac Adria in Prague.