Dusan Kadlec

 Dusan Kadlec was born in Czechoslovakia in 1942. He pursued his interest in art from a very early age, ultimately studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague where he received a Master’s Degree in 1967. His studies there covered twenty-two subjects, including bookbinding, papermaking, drawing, painting, portraiture, as well as the more conventional subjects of history, political economics, languages, and math. His undergraduate and graduate training focused on traditional painting techniques but also explored aspects of sculpture, jewelry design, art restoration, and architecture.

While a student at the academy, he specialized in figurative painting and portraiture. This European academic training is apparent in his painting style. Upon graduation, Dusan’s artistic ability was recognized immediately and he began to exhibit and receive both private and state commissions. Most of his early works were commercial art projects but he also contributed to a number of exhibitions, and was invited to participate in the design of Man and His World, the Czech pavilion at the 1968 World Expo in Montreal. The pavilion turned out to be one of the most popular exhibits at the fair.

When the Soviet Union invaded in 1968, Dusan fled his homeland and immigrated to Canada, settling in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He immediately began to look for work as an artist, and within two weeks secured his first commission - a portrait. Word quickly spread about this new artist and soon he was busy painting commissions full time. He found the historic charm of his newly adopted port city inspirational and began at that time what would subsequently become the focus of his life’s work. Re-creating maritime history on canvas.

Critical acclaim and a number of highly successful one man and two man shows with such luminaries as Jack L. Gray helped propel Dusan’s career and firmly establish him as a leading maritime artist. Since then he has continued painting in his unique old world style, gradually expanding his subject matter to include images from around the globe. His work is in public, private, and corporate collections worldwide. In 2008, Dusan received the Rudolph J. Schaefer Maritime Heritage Award from Mystic Seaport Museum, an honor given to the artist whose work best documents and preserves America's maritime heritage.