A central feature is the contrast between cool blues and tones of warm red or pink—a hallmark of Václav Špála’s paintings, and the characteristic for which this great artist is best known. However, Špála’s artistic range was far broader; beyond landscapes featuring azure waters and summer skies, voluptuous female figures, or floral still lifes, his body of work also encompasses graphic art and design. While significantly influenced by French Cubism, Špála—unlike traditional Cubists—employed vibrant, bold colors. In addition to Cubism, Orphism, and Fauvism, he drew inspiration from Czech folk art; by synthesizing these various influences, he forged a highly distinctive and unmistakable style.

Like many other artists, Špála collaborated with the Artěl art collective. During the 1920s, he designed a variety of items for Artěl, including ceramics, turned-wood toys, vividly painted glassware, and fans. He felt a particular affinity for the collective’s core mission: a modern reinterpretation of folk artistic expression. Špála’s passion for folklore, tradition, and rural life is clearly reflected in his wooden toy designs—both in their subject matter and their decorative motifs. This is evident, for instance, in the children’s game *Na pastvě* ("At Pasture"), which consists of flat, plywood figures of young herders and geese, as well as in a lidded jar shaped like a countrywoman or a wooden candy box designed as a little devil. Alongside anthropomorphic figures, a central theme of Artěl toys was the animal kingdom—most notably, various types of birds. For the *Fairy-Tale Poultry* (*Pohádková drůbež*) set, Špála designed brightly colored wooden figures of roosters, hens, chicks, and peacocks mounted on small stands. Toys produced by Artěl were intended to be honest in their use of materials, sturdy, well-crafted, and, above all, strikingly colorful. Barbora Kovářová