Ferdinand Pribyl Bethlehem Scene
Ferdinand Pribyl was a Czech Moravian who was born in 1840 in Frenstat and emigrated to Texas in 1885. In his later years, he painted at least 7 wall-sized Bethlehem scenes for his friends and family. Below is the scene owned by the Fred and Elizabeth Stockbauer family of Victoria, Texas. It measures 15 feet, 4 inches in length and 2 feet, 2 inches in height. In this scene the people on the right are farmers and peasants, coming to the manger of the Holy Family with gifts of animals from their farms. On the left are people coming from the city, with gifts of linen, baked goods and produce. A newspaper article about Ferdinand entitled "ART WITH LASTING VALUE" by Sidney R. Weisiger was published in The Victoria Advocate, Jan. 28, 1973, and can be viewed here as a PDF document. Special thanks are due to Dr. Robert Shook and Bob Allen of Victoria College who photographed and digitized the image of Ferdinand Pribyl's work displayed here. Dr. Shook has also prepared a photo showing three of the Pribyl Bethlehem scenes.
The Ferdinand Pribyl Bethlehem Scene was on public display at the University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures during the 2007 Christmas Holiday season, from Nov. 20, 2007 – Jan. 6, 2008. See the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures website for further information.
An article by Ferdinand Pribyl's great-grand-niece, Bette Stockbauer, was published in the Fall 2007 edition of Kosmas, a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal that focuses on Czech, Slovak, and Central European Studies. It is published bi-annually by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU). Kosmas is not available online, but in hardcopy by subscription only and information on the journal and subscriptions may be found here. Bette's article, entitled "From Frenstat to Fayette County — A Chronicle of Two Brothers: Jan and Ferdinand Pribyl", uses original correspondence from Jan, her paternal great-grandfather and his brother, Ferdinand, to paint a picture of life on the frontier of Texas and the old country of Moravia at the end of the 19th century. The article may be viewed here.
On June 6, 2009, Bette delivered a 20-minute presentation of selections from the letters of Jan and Ferdinand Pribyl, with a PowerPoint slide show of photos of the brothers, and the art of Ferdinand Pribyl at the Memorial Student Center on the campus of Texas A&M University for the SVU 2009 Regional Conference. The presentation text can be viewed here, and the slide notations in the text refer and link to the PowerPoint slides which accompanied the presentation. The complete slide show of the PowerPoint presentation can viewed here.
A new exhibition of the Bethlehem Scenes of Ferdinand Pribyl has been scheduled to show at the University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures during the 2009 Christmas Season, from Nov. 21, 2009 – Jan. 3, 2010. On display will be two complete panoramic scenes, individual figures from other scenes, and other artwork. More details will be added as soon as they are available.
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