Štěpán Zavřel

Biography

Štěpán Zavřel, born in Prague in 1932, is honored through the Foundation and Exhibition in his name. His journey ended in Sàrmede, where he passed away in 1999, marking the final chapter of his intertwined personal and artistic story.
In Prague, the young Zavřel attended the Faculty of Cinematic Arts, specializing in animation. In 1959, he left the country and, after a dramatic escape, arrived in Italy, where he was welcomed into the refugee camp in Trieste. After studying at the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Zavřel moved first to Germany, where he continued his studies in scenography and theatrical costume at the Kunstakademie in Munich, and then to London, where, from 1965 to 1968, he directed the animated film section at the Richard Williams Studio.

In 1968, he found his permanent home in Rugolo di Sàrmede, where he purchased an abandoned farmhouse (now a private home, with frescoes by the artist and his students) and settled there permanently. His presence became a catalyst for a creative network of artists from all over Central Europe and beyond.
Over the years, Štěpán Zavřel exhibited in galleries and museums around the world: Norway, Switzerland, South Africa, Germany, the United States, Central America, and Spain. In 1982, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York hosted an exhibition of his works on the theme “Venice Tomorrow.”
In 1983, the International Exhibition of Illustration for Children (now Le Immagini della Fantasia) was founded at his initiative. In 1988, the exhibition was complemented by the International School of Illustration.
Štěpán Zavřel transformed this village of three thousand people in the hills of Treviso into a “fairy-tale town,” populated with nearly seventy frescoes on public and private buildings in the area.