Tabor, c. 1930

In this gouache, Oskar Laske (1874–1951) depicted the view of a busy square in the South Bohemian city of Tabor. Houses and churches provide the architectural backdrop to the animated activity in this small town populated by horses, carriages, tents and well wrapped up people. The inhabitants are captured in a cursory manner, while the sense of dynamic and busyness, though palpable, appears somewhat deferred. The rendering’s gray atmosphere emanates a sense of the dreariness that a cold day holds for poor people. The commercial and tradesmen’s town had seen better days. Following World War I and the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, Tabor was part of newly founded Czechoslovakia until 1939. With this everyday scene in Tabor, created sometime in the 1930s, Oskar Laske showed his flair for the vivid observation of his time.

AK, 2021