Frantisek Kupka (1871-1957) was a Czech painter and illustrator who lived most of his life in Paris. He was one of the first artists to paint abstract canvasses.

Frank Kupka was born September 23, 1871, in eastern Bohemia, Czechoslovakia, the son of a small town notary. Unhappy living with his father and stepmother, he often left home, spending time in a Capuchin monastery where he was fascinated by the murals the monks painted. He eventually wandered from place to place in Bohemia, making his living as an itinerant painter of commercial signs, banners, and saddles. At the age of 16 he was sent to a local craft school and later to the Prague School of Art. From there he went to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and eventually to Paris in 1894. In Paris he attended classes at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Académie Jullian, supporting...