Jan Kavan first attended the Hořice School of Sculptors and Stonemason. He studied at the Praha Academy and study trips took him to Paris, Roma and Firenze. After World War II he was on the faculty at the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Zlín and then at the University of Applied Arts in Praha as a teacher, and from 1966-72 he acted as the rector of the latter. As a member of the Mánes Union of Fine Arts, he produced monuments, portraits, works for monumental architecture, commemorative plaques, allegorical and genre sculptures, striving for lyrical and dramatic rendition of the theme, and ceramic work. After World War II, his style and subjects were largely determined by official state and party regulations. His son, Jan Kavan, Jr., born in 1947, was also a graphic designer. The entry in the art competitions by Kavan sr., High jump, was a relief.
Czechoslovakia