Rudolf Vojtěch Špillar
# Rudolf Vojtěch Špillar

Rudolf Vojtěch Špillar (11 February 1878, Pilsen - 22 March 1949, Prague) was a Czech painter and photographer; on the subject of which he wrote several manuals.

## Life and work

His father was a financial officer for the city of Pilsen. His brothers, Jaroslav and Karel also became painters. After completing his primary education, he found a position as a civil servant and worked as an amateur photographer; one of the first to practice pictorialism. In 1908, together with a professional photographer named Jan Špriňar, he wrote a Compendium of Practical Photography for Amateurs. It became very popular throughout Austria-Hungary and was reissued in several new editions after the establishment of Czechoslovakia. In 1918, he began writing The Science of Photography, which included contributions by Jindra Imlauf (1881-1921) and Jaroslav Milbauer [cs].

He often stayed at Jaroslav's villa in Pec pod Čerchovem, and his death in 1917 may have prompted Rudolf to enter a special school, operated by Vratislav Nechleba [cs], at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, which he attended until 1923. After that, he undertook several study trips to Germany, France and Italy. He came to specialize in still-lifes, nudes, portraits and landscapes. Despite becoming quite proficient, he remained mostly an amateur as a painter, although he exhibited regularly at the Rubeš Gallery. His total output was, as might be expected, rather small.

He died at the age of seventy-one and was interred at the Vinohrady Cemetery. Many of his works may be seen at the Špillar Brothers Gallery [cs] in Domažlice.

