Leo Vaniš (the older)

Leo Vaniš was born on November 9, 1936, in Bratislava and passed away in 2005 in Prachatice. He was a Czechoslovak and Czech visual artist as well as a university lecturer. Throughout his career, he worked as an artist, art curator, and higher education teacher. He taught writing, painting, and decorative composition at the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University in Prague, as well as at the Pedagogical Institute in Brandýs nad Labem.

After completing his secondary education at the La-Guardia Real Gymnasium in Prague 7, located at Strossmayer Square, he studied fine arts, descriptive geometry, and mathematics at the Pedagogical College in Prague under renowned artists such as Professor Cyril Bouda, Professor Karel Lidický, and Martin Salcman. He also served as the secretary of the Department of Art Education at the Faculty of Education at Charles University, collaborating with figures like C. Bouda, M. Salcman, Jaromír Uždil, Miroslav Míček, and Z. Sýkora. During this period, he produced university scripts and textbooks for universities and primary schools, including “Methodology of Work Education” (with H. Bartošová), “Methodology of Subject Education and Local History” (with V. Mejstřík), and “Modern Technical Means in Teaching” (with R. Palouš, who later became the rector of Charles University).

Leo Vaniš was registered with the Czech Fund for Fine Arts, the Association of Czech Fine Artists, and Dílo. His first solo exhibition took place at the Zlatá lilie Gallery in Prague 1, located at Malé náměstí. In 1988, he participated in the Salon of Prague Fine Artists at the Palace of Culture (now Výstaviště Praha). He organized exhibitions such as “25 Years of Agroprojekt” and “Anthropology of Motherhood.” Influenced by Paul Cézanne, he began painting and gradually developed under the influence of avant-garde groups. He is included in the “Signatures of Czech and Slovak Visual Artists” and the “Dictionary of Czech and Slovak Visual Artists, Volume XIX (V-Vik).”

As a typographer and curator, he contributed to the exhibition by Professor Jaroslav Bureš titled “Landscapes 1970–1976” at the gallery of the Czechoslovak Writers’ Association in Prague and participated in several exhibitions by Helena Vanišová. His son, Leo Vaniš, is also a visual artist.