Series of ten illustrations to Mácha’s „May“

František Kobliha’s woodcut series that illustrated a new edition of Máj (May), a poem by Karel Hynek Mácha, was published by Moderní revue in 1911 as the 53rd opus of its Library. The edition was related to the 100th anniversary of the poet’s birth commemorated the previous year. Kobliha did not produce the individual sheets for Máj as literal illustrations for the poem but as a loose pictorial accompaniment inspired mainly by passages describing natural sceneries. In doing so, he avoided capturing the principal plot, instead focusing his attention on seemingly marginal elements. An imaginary landscape, expressing „the reflection of the artist’s soul“ in keeping with Symbolism, became a crucial element. Figural motifs appear only in two sheets. One depicts a meditating youth, the other an arched figure holding its head and gazing intently towards a star-studded sky.