Painting, sculpture, decorative arts

An exhibition mounted by the Collection of 19th-century Art of the National Gallery in Prague, in collaboration with the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

After the National Gallery moved its Baroque art collection from the Convent of St. George at Prague Castle to the nearby Schwarzenberg Palace, the Gallery’s Collection of 19th-Century Art was able to transfer its own permanent exhibition to the Convent’s interiors. The exhibition spaces had undergone extensive restoration and renovation work to accommodate the art display. The art of the 19th century -- like that of any other era -- may be said to reflect the historical and social contexts and philosophical thought of the times, responding to the impetuses and events, while simultaneously drawing from previous legacies and traditions. It is equally true that every new attempt to interpret art necessarily mirrors our contemporary opinions and beliefs. Through them, we perceive 19th-century art in a new, different way. The purpose of every new installation of 19th-century art is to remind visitors of our country’s past, while offering them a fresh, intensive visual experience.
The exhibition that opens today has been conceived with the purpose of offering viewers a comprehensive survey of the principal art movements and exponents of 19th-century art in Bohemia, intended to demonstrate how Czech art developed against the background of the ideological and artistic trends prevalent at the time in Europe. Based on the idea of presenting the works of individual artists as ensembles, the exhibition concept attests to the fact that, through its most accomplished artists and in its own distinctive way, Czech art of the 19th century kept abreast of all artistic manifestations being created in other European art centres, albeit with some delay caused by the historical situation and role of the Czech lands within the multi-national Austro-Hungarian Empire.
From the late 18th century, the fine arts in Bohemia were continuously moulded under the impact of the transformations taking place in the cultural, social and economic spheres. Communication between artists and the public was experiencing a dramatic change. At the beginning of the 19th century, literature and music, as well as architecture, sculpture and the decorative arts were expressions of the wishes, feelings and needs of the newly rising middle class. Amassing wealth rapidly, the enterprising bourgeoisie produced entrepreneurs as well as prominent figures of the Czech intelligentsia, gradually becoming the foremost consumer and patron of the arts. Hence, the history of 19th-century art in Bohemia is also the history of the Czech society of that period.
The exhibition examines the specific cultural atmosphere in Bohemia, notably Prague, in the 19th century through paintings and sculptures, models and sketches for funerary statuary and tombstones, numerous portraits -- both painted and sculpted -- of noted figures in the social and cultural spheres, and selected examples of decorative arts. Imbued with comparable aesthetic values and inspired by the same ideas, concepts and principles, in their totality the paintings, sculptures and decorative arts on display eloquently attest to the period and place of their origin, to the society and climate of that era. In terms of the exhibits’ formal arrangement, the use of sculpted and decorative art objects is of equal importance, as they complement and help to accentuate the individual thematic sections throughout the exhibition space. The purpose of these artefacts in the exhibition is twofold: firstly, they serve to document the developmental tendencies in the arts of the period and, secondly, they have an illustrative function, as in the case of the portrait busts.
The permanent exhibition mounted in the Convent of St. George opens with a display featuring late 18th-century art through a comparison of works of Norbert Grund with those of František Xaver Procházka, or creations by Christian Seckl with paintings by Ludvík Kohl. The display closes with a collection of turn-of-the century works created by a generation of artists born in the 1850s and 1860s, such as Beneš Knüpfer, Emanuel Krescenc Liška, Maxmilián Pirner and Jakub Schikaneder.
The art presentation in the Convent of St. George follows a traditional chronological and thematic pattern. However, a completely new section has been added -- that of sacral art, presented in the chapel that forms an intrinsic part of the exhibition premises. Featured there are four of J. V. Myslbek’s larger-than-life-size statues of Bohemian saints which -- cast in bronze -- adorn the St. Wenceslas Monument on Wenceslas Square. In the chapel, visitors can also admire The Crucified Christ sculpture, on public display for the first time. This suggests that the chapel’s installation gives precedence to content over chronology. The nature of the convent’s interiors has facilitated the exhibiting not only of large-sized sculptures, but also of large-scale pictures, chiefly on view in the section featuring historical paintings.

In conclusion, a few statistical facts:
Exhibited in the Convent of St. George are 350 paintings (eight from the Collection of Old Masters) and 54 sculptures (two from the Collection of Old Masters) -- this being a selection of the finest works from among those administered by the Collection of 19th-Century Art, which cover the period from 1790 to 1910. The exhibition also displays decorative art objects -- glass, porcelain, silver, furniture and clothing, on loan from the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. There are also two architectural models from the National Technical Museum. A number of selected pieces have been lent by other institutions, namely the Prague Castle Administration, the Museum of the City of Prague and a number of private collectors.

Naděžda Blažíčková-Horová

In keeping with its long-term collaboration with the National Gallery in Prague’s various art departments, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague has contributed a host of exhibits to the exhibition “19th-century Art in Bohemia (1790--1910)” installed in the Convent of St. George at Prague Castle. Contrary to the former exhibition housed in the National Gallery’s Trade Fair Palace, where items from UPM’s collections also accompany 20th-century art, the Convent’s innovated, thematically-organized sections include new small ensembles testifying to the life style prevalent during the individual decades of the 19th century, beginning with the Classical Revival of around 1800 to Historicism, a style characterizing the close of the century. The exhibits illustrate the flourishing domestic production, especially the glass and porcelain industries and cast-iron manufacturing, which took place within the framework of Austria-Hungary. Coincidentally, visitors will have the opportunity to explore the accomplishments of Czech fine arts in conjunction with decorative arts and crafts in several other permanent exhibitions and short-terms displays: in November, UPM will add to the permanent exhibition installed in the Schwarzenberg Palace its own independent decorative arts display, which will focus on masterpieces of liturgical goldsmithing and textile-making, and on the glory of Baroque Bohemian glass and tableware. Of particular note in connection with UPM’s collaborative endeavours with the National Gallery’s Collection of 19th-century Art is the comprehensive exhibition “Biedermeier, Art and Culture in the Bohemian Lands”, which will open to the public on May 28 in the Riding School of Prague Castle, constituting the first comprehensive presentation of the Biedermeier period through exhibits on loan specifically from Czech art collections, particularly those housed in chateaus and palaces throughout the country.

Helena Koenigsmarková

Author of the exhibition concept and curator: Naděžda Blažíčková-Horová
Exhibition collaboration: Šárka Leubnerová
Collaboration on the part of UPM: Helena Koenigsmarková
and Helena Brožková, Daniela Karasová, Jiří Nimrichter, Eva Uchalová
Installation design: Vladimír Hora
Graphic design: Jan Hora

Lending institutions: Prague Castle Administration, National Technical Museum, Museum of the City of Prague, Česká pojiš?ovna, a.s., Kodl Gallery in Prague, the Village of Pohled near Havlíčkův Brod, and private collections

The National Gallery in Prague
The Collection of 19th-century Art
The Convent of St. George
Address: nám. U sv. Jiří 33, Prague 1

Open daily except Mondays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For information on accompanying programmes, please visit
www.ngprague.cz )