Vera Prasilova Scott () (March 25, 1899 – January 31, 1996) was a Czech-American photographer and sculptor. Her main work, which consisted of shadowed, gelatin silver photographs of Houstonian upper class society and intellectuals, has been preserved at the Rice University Woodson Research Center, the Museum of Czech Literature, and the Portland Museum of Art.Scott, Vera Parislova. "Guide to the Vera Prasilova Scott Portraiture Collection at the Woodson Research Center." The University of Texas, 12 Mar. 2013
Early life Vera was one of seven children born in Kutná Hora, Bohemia in the modern Czech Republic to a professor and a school teacher.Munk, Frank. "The time and lives of Vera Prasilova Scott." The Memorial Service of Vera Prasilova Scott. Portland, Oregon. 23 March 1996. Lecture In 1910, she was able to enter high school in Prague at Charles University and took an interest in photography and cloth making.Scott, Vera Parislova. "Guide to the Vera Prasilova Scott Portraiture Collection at the Woodson Research Center." The University of Texas, 12 Mar. 2013 At the age of 18, she took an apprenticeship with a well-known Czech photographer Frantisek Drtikol and developed her technique in silver halide and bromide photography.Flinn, D. [Fondren Library]. (2013, January 12). Photographs of Vera Prasilova Scott and Houston society in 1920s. Video After earning a Journeyman's certificate during her apprenticeship, she continued her academic training at Graphics Art School of Munich in Germany.Dolan, Julia, Ph.D. "Classically Modern: The Portraiture of Věra Prášilova Scott." Portland Art Museum. Portland Art Museum, 21 Feb. 2015. While in Munich, she met her future husband Dr. Arthur F. Scott, who at the time was conducting postdoctoral research at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München as a Harvard Fellow in Chemistry.Scott, Vera Parislova. "Guide to the Vera Prasilova Scott Portraiture Collection at the Woodson Research Center." The University of Texas, 12 Mar. 2013 She graduated with a master's degree and a first prize award in photography in little over a year and returned to Prague to begin her photography career.
Photography career For a few months Prasilova worked under Tan Stenc to produce photographs for the Ministry of Education of the newly formed Czech Republic, but in 1924 Dr. Arthur F. Scott returned to the United States as a Reed College faculty member and Vera Prasilova followed him.Munk, Frank. "The time and lives of Vera Prasilova Scott." The Memorial Service of Vera Prasilova Scott. Portland, Oregon. 23 March 1996. Lecture She settled in New York City where she worked as a still photographer for Famous Players–Lasky, while studying at Columbia University.Scott, Vera Parislova. "Guide to the Vera Prasilova Scott Portraiture Collection at the Woodson Research Center." The University of Texas, 12 Mar. 2013 Vera and Scott later reunited in Portland, Oregon and were married in 1925. It was that same year that Scott received an appointment to the Rice Institute (now Rice University) and the couple relocated to Houston, Texas in 1926.
Once in Houston, Prasilova opened a photography studio on San Jacinto St. and soon became well known for her portraits, whose "highlights and shadows, finished in oil or gum print have the effect of a rich charcoal.Staff, Correspondent "Photography Exhibit Preview to Be Held at Museum Saturday." Houston Chronicle [Houston] 1 May 1931 Print. Her subjects (were) not posed in a 'look pleasant' stereotype, but their moods are caught and held and veiled just enough to capture their allurement,"(Civics for Houston, Jan. 1982, pg. 22). Much of Prasilova's clientele included faculty of the Rice Institute, locals of social and political stature and their families as well as visiting celebrities, including Bertrand Russell and Maurice Ravel.Munk, Frank. "The time and lives of Vera Prasilova Scott." The Memorial Service of Vera Prasilova Scott. Portland, Oregon. 23 March 1996. Lecture Several of Prasilova's portraits were included in the Pacific International Salon of Photographic Art, which hung at the Museum of Art, Portland, Oregon and Art Galleries of Oregon at Eugene in the fall of 1930.Dolan, Julia, Ph.D. "Classically Modern: The Portraiture of Věra Prášilova Scott." Portland Art Museum. Portland Art Museum, 21 Feb. 2015 Her work was also exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 1931 and 1932. She also showed her work in the "27th Convention" in Schenectady, NY, 1932, where her work received an Award of Merit. In 1989, Prasilova's photographic portraits were included in the exhibition Frantisek Drtikol and His Pupils at the Museum of Czech Literature in Prague, Czechoslovakia.Munk, Frank. "The time and lives of Vera Prasilova Scott." The Memorial Service of Vera Prasilova Scott. Portland, Oregon. 23 March 1996. Lecture Her work is also in the permanent collections of the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Oregon and the Museum of Czech Literature in Prague, Czechoslovakia.Dolan, Julia, Ph.D. "Classically Modern: The Portraiture of Věra Prášilova Scott." Portland Art Museum. Portland Art Museum, 21 Feb. 2015
Sculptural career In 1937, the Scotts moved back to Portland, Oregon, where Dr. Arthur F. Scott had accepted a professorship in Chemistry at Reed College.Scott, Vera Parislova. "Guide to the Vera Prasilova Scott Portraiture Collection at the Woodson Research Center." The University of Texas, 12 Mar. 2013 By this time, the Scotts had a family of three girls.Dolan, Julia, Ph.D. "Classically Modern: The Portraiture of Věra Prášilova Scott." Portland Art Museum. Portland Art Museum, 21 Feb. 2015. Prasilova Scott interrupted her artistic activities to care for her husband and three daughters and to be more involved with the academic and social elements of the city of Portland. While at Reed, Prasilova Scott studied calligraphy with Mr.Lloyd Reynolds and began her career in sculpture.Dolan, Julia, Ph.D. "Classically Modern: The Portraiture of Věra Prášilova Scott." Portland Art Museum. Portland Art Museum, 21 Feb. 2015. In 1962–64, when Dr. Scott was on sabbatical at the National Science Foundation, Vera studied sculpture at the Corcoran Museum School in Washington D.C., under Hans Warnecke.Scott, Vera Parislova. "Guide to the Vera Prasilova Scott Portraiture Collection at the Woodson Research Center." The University of Texas, 12 Mar. 2013 Upon returning to Portland, she continued her studies in metalwork and jewelry making with Fredric Littman and bronze casting with James L. Hansen at Portland State University. While at Reed, Mrs. Scott started switched to sculpture as her artistic outlet and began to produce works in bronze and wax that reflected her humanitarian response to social, political, and emotional events of the time.Munk, Frank. "The time and lives of Vera Prasilova Scott." The Memorial Service of Vera Prasilova Scott. Portland, Oregon. 23 March 1996. Lecture In the series Migrations, the scriptures Bangladesh, The Road from Phnom Penh, and Exodus, Mrs. Scott represents "the nameless, faceless families of refugees leaving their homeland." Soon Mrs. Scott's sculptures garnered a similar reputation to her photographs and received commissions from agencies to produce artistic pieces.Flinn, D. [Fondren Library]. (2013, January 12). Photographs of Vera Prasilova Scott and Houston society in 1920s. Video For instance, the sculpture Exodus was commissioned by the International University of Miami(now Florida International University) to accompany The Jordan Davidson Humanitarian Awards.
Death Vera Prasilova Scott died on January 31, 1996.Munk, Frank. "The time and lives of Vera Prasilova Scott." The Memorial Service of Vera Prasilova Scott. Portland, Oregon. 23 March 1996. Lecture
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