Josef Váchal

Josef Váchal (23 September 1884 in Milavče near Domažlice – 10 May 1969 in Studeňany) was a Czech writer, painter, printmaker and book-printer.

He was brought up by his grandparents, Jan Aleš and Jana Alešová, in the southern Bohemian town of Písek, where he entered grammar school but left it prematurely.

In 1898 Váchal moved to Prague, where he studied bookbinding and befriended his father's cousin, the painter Mikoláš Aleš.

During 1940, expressing resistance against Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, he moved from Prague to the village of Studeňany, a part of Radim in eastern Bohemia ('tusculum' or 'exile').

Portmoneum, Váchal's museum in Litomyšl, was founded by Paseka publishing house in the early 1990s.