Selected Topics from the Czech Art History IV

Summer Semester of 2020/2021

Ing. Mgr. Markéta Čejková

Czech Cubism in Architecture (focused on Prague) (lecture)

The lecture will discuss the very specific aspect of cubism developed almost exclusively by the Czech architects. It will cover the background, the development and the most interesting constructions completed within a very short time period between 1911 and 1927. The buildings and constructions discussed are mostly located in Prague but a few out of Prague ones will be mentioned as well. As a bonus cubistic design realised by the Czech cubistic architects will be covered by the lecture as well.

Literature:

Zdeněk Lukes, Ester Havlova: Czech Architectural Cubism, Prague 2006

Museum of Czech Cubism, entrance fee (excursion)

The lecture will be held in the Museum of Czech Cubism focusing on cubistic design (furniture, glass, porcelaine and china, paintings, posters, etc.). As the museum is located in a very famous cubistic house designed by Josef Gočár, the lecture will also cover the architecture and design of the building.

Marie Fiřtová, M.A.

Prague As The “Picturesque 19th Century Town”: Michalovic Miller’s House As The Perfect Example of The 19th Century Burgher Style (excursion)

The excursion will start in the small miller’s house (Vávra’s House or Michalovic Mill), which represents the perfect example of the 19th century burgher style. The positioning of the building doesnot correspond to its surroundings anymore, it is therefore important to get acquainted with the original context of the housing development. We will start our tour inside the house focusing on the unique wall paintings from 1847, made by one of the most important representatives of the Czech Biedermeier era - Josef Navrátil. In the Alpine room, I will try to explain you the principals of the “Zimmerreise”, a popular bourgeois pastimeof the 19th century. There are only few other examples of intact preserved interieur in the burgher houses in Europe, which is mainly caused by the permanent changing of the owners. This lecture should also give you basic knowledge about the artistic scene around the mid-19th century, followed by a short walk around the Prague Old town to mediate the impression of the “picturesque 19th century town”.

Literature:

Petrasová Taťána – Švácha Rostislav (eds.), Art in the Czech Lands 800–2000, Praha: Artefactum – Arbor vitae societas, 2017
Vondráček, Radim, ed. Biedermeier: art and culture in the Bohemian lands 1814-1848. Prague: Museum ofDecorativeArts, 2010
Hulíková, Veronika, ed., URBAN, Otto M., ed. a WITTLICH, Filip, ed. Art ofthe Long Century 1796-1918: portraitofthecollection NGP. Prague: NationalGallery, 2019.
Stiegler Bernd, ReisenderStillstand. EinekleineKulturgeschichte der Reisenimund um dasZimmerherum, Frankfurt amMain 2010.

Mgr. Tereza Havelková

Czech Early Modernism (lecture)

Lecture will deal with the formation of modern art in the Czech lands during the late 19th and early 20th century. The focus will be on the Czech modern art as part of European international context, in which inspirations and influences have been taken over and reinterpreted. We will examine the role of major exhibitions of artists such as Gustav Rodin or Edvard Munch in Prague and important art movements and styles (impressionism, expressionism, cubism) that resonated in Czech art of that period.

Literature:

Taťána Petrasová – Rostislav Švácha (eds.), Art in the Czech Lands 800–2000, Praha: Artefactum – Arbor vitae societas, 2017
Hvezdoslav STEFAN: Czech Modernism 1900-1945, 1989, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, 1990 (available at the National Library in Prague)
Marta FILIPOVÁ: Modernity, History, and Politics in Czech Art, New York, Routledge, 2019
From the magazine Umění / Art:
Umění / Art 3 LII 2004: Alena POMAJZLOVÁ: Signora X - Růžena Zátková, p. 231
Umění / Art 1 LIV 2006: Marcel PENCÁK: The 1913 competition for the Jan Žižka Monument on Vítkov hill, p. 69
Umění / Art I LIV 2006: Roman PRAHL: The „pre-history“ of Czech modernism in Munich, pp. 57-68
In German:
Umění / Art 2 LIV 2006: Marie RAKUŠANOVÁ: Grosse Aneinandervorbei oder Unauffällige Resonanz? Der Besuch von Otto und Marie Mueller sowie Erst Ludwig Kirchner 1911 in Böhmen, p. 142
Umění / Art 6 XI 1963: Jindřich ŠÁMAL: Evard Munch und Prag, pp. 467 – 468
In French:
Umění / Art 4 LVII 2009: Karolína FABELOVÁ: Bourdelle à Prague en 1909 et son rapport aux artistes tchèques et à Auguste Rodin, pp. 364 – 384
Umění / Art 3 XIV 1966: Petr WITTLICH: Le Cubisme d’Otto Gutfreund, p. 256

Mgr. Klára Jarolímková

1918–1938: First Czechoslovak Republic – excursion to the National Gallery Prague (entrance fee) (excursion)

The permanent exhibition 1918–1938: First Czechoslovak Republicof the National Gallery Prague was created for the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of founding of Czechoslovakia. The exhibition shows the rich and cosmopolitan art scene in the young independent Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1938. It introduces prominent galleries, art clubs and institutions, as well as the important cultural centres. There is a rich variety of art production as paintings, graphics, sculptures, video projections as well as book illustrations and design. Besides the paintings by prominent Czech, Slovak and Czech-German artists there are also shown the artworks from the important National Gallery’s French collection

Literature:

Bydžovská, Lenka / Srp, Karel: Jindřich Štyrský, Prague 2007
Hubatová-Vacková, Lada: First Republic 1918-1938, Prague 2018
Kallert, Kristina: Frühling in Prag oder Wege des Kubismus, München 2005
Mansbach, Steven: Modern art in Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the Balkans, ca 1890-1939, Cambridge 1999
Michalová, Rea: Karel Teige: Captain of the Avant-Garde, Prague, 2018
Pomajzlová, Alena (ed.): Devětsil 1920-1931, Catalogue of the Prague City Gallery, Prague 2019
Srp, Karel: Toyen, Prague 2000
Srp, Karel: New formations, Czech avant-garde art and modern glass from the Roy and Mary Cullen collection, Houston 2011
Švácha, Rostislav (ed): Devětsil: the Czech avant-garde of the 1920s and 30s, Oxford 1990
Švestka, Jiří: Czech Cubism 1909-1925, Prague 2006
Vloemans, John: Czech Avant-garde Books 1922-1938, Devětsil – Poetism – Constructivism –Surrealism, Hague 1994
Uhrová, Olga: Picasso, Prague 2008
Modern and contemporary Czech art 1890-2010, part I, catalogue of the exhibition, Prague 2010
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