Background
Plavcan was born in Braddock, Pennsylvania to Czechoslovakian immigrant parents.
Plavcan was born in Braddock, Pennsylvania to Czechoslovakian immigrant parents.
Plavcan spent much of his youth reading and studying art at the Erie Public Library, which at the time included the Public Library, the Public Museum, and the Art Club (later The Erie Art Museum) Plavcan studied trade at Academy High School but did not flourish there until noted instructor and Saturday Evening Post illustrator George Ericson (Eugene Iverd) suggested that he take art classes. In 1930, Plavcan returned to Erie and graduated from the Academy.
Under Ericson’s tutelage Plavcan developed a lifelong appreciation for landscape painting, and in October 1926, he was accepted into the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1928, after his second year at the Academy, Plavcan was awarded the Cresson Traveling Scholarship for further study in Europe. This time overseas shaped his work for the rest of his life.
He was particularly influenced by Hans Memling and was an early promoter of the watercolors of J.M.W. Turner.
That same year his painting The Blue Pitcher was accepted into the 29th Carnegie International in Pittsburgh. An exhibition that was juried by Henri Matisse. for his painting Mechanic Street, New Hope, Pennsylvania.
He also had two paintings on display at the Art Institute of Chicago’s annual show. In 1936, he was inducted into the Who"s Who in American Artist
Plavcan married Catherine Burns, an artist he had met at the Academy and returned to Erie in 1931.
The scarcity of jobs for artists during the depression led Plavcan to accept a job teaching at Erie Technical High School. Within a year, Plavcan was teaching vocational courses full-time. A position he would keep until his retirement in 1970.
Unlike other instructors, Plavcan taught many of his classes outdoors, and his students recall how he emphasized observation and the fundamentals of fine art
Many of his students, including Richard Anuszkiewicz, Robert Joy, John Vahanian, Vitus Kaiser, George Gaadt, Robert Gerbracht, and John Silk Deckard went on to garner national and international fame. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1930 and 1951 Corcoran Biennial, Washington, District of Columbia National Academy of Design, New York
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
Pepsi-Cola “Artists for Victory” National Show, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Chautauqua Institute, New York
Biennial Drawing Exhibition, Norfolk, Virginia
Erie Art Museum, Erie, Pennsylvania.