Czech painter, graphic artist, sculptor, glass artist, and theoretician, he is one of the most versatile figures in Czech visual culture. He became famous for his stained glass windows, murals, and tapestry designs. He also engaged in applied graphics, mosaics, and sculpture. He devoted himself to sculpture, furniture design, and the design of garden compositions. As a graphic artist, he designed book covers, posters, and even postage stamps.

His well-known works include decorative panels for the Czechoslovak Exhibition Pavilion in Philadelphia, marble reliefs of Rivers in the hall of the Zemská banka (on the corner of Na Příkopě and Nekázanka streets in Prague), windows of the church in Vršovice, the savings bank in České Budějovice, and the railway directorate in Hradec Králové, memorials to the victims of war in the Smíchov brewery and in the former Association of Publishers. His paintings (Bathing, Dance),sculptures such as Sitting Woman or Torso, as well as a series of sculptural nudes (Inclined Torso, Reclining Nude),portraits, and plaques are significant.

He learned graphic techniques as a student of the School of Applied Arts under V. H. Brunner and later at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under Professor Max Švabinský. In his work, he sought the inner regularity of form, the suppression of randomness, and the effort to find order. In sculpture, he sought the ideal shape of the specific volume of the female figure. In painting, he was interested in color and the harmony of the artistic whole. He was an important theoretician and educator, especially in the education of the post-war generation of glassmakers, and contributed to the emergence of new Czech glass sculpture.

He was a member of the Mánes Association of Fine Artists (1927-35), and from 1935 a member of the Umělecká beseda.In 1945, he was appointed professor at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague.