Articles

On 31 August the exhibition “Geomeetriline inimene. Eesti Kunstnikkude Rühm ja 1920.–1930. aastate kunstiuuendus.” [Geometrical Man. The Group of Estonian Artists and Art Innovation in the 1920s and 1930s.] was opened in the Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn. This retrospective of the activities of the Estonian avant-garde group brought together 60 paintings and 50 drawings by prominent representatives of the Estonian avant-garde (Jaan Vahtra, Eduard Ole, Friedrich Voldemar Hist, Juhan Raudsepp, Felix Randel, Märt Laarman, Arnold Akberg and Henrik Olvi), as well as works by members of the Riga Artists Group from Latvia, whose oeuvre was an important springboard for Estonian Modernists thanks to exhibitions by the Riga Artists Group in Tartu and Tallinn in 1924. The close connections between Estonian and Latvian artists (Romans Suta, Aleksandra Beļcova, Niklāvs Strunke) is evidence of a different kind of artistic communication than the traditional relationship between the centre and the periphery. In this case the link is rather between one periphery and another, although in the traditional way of thinking it could be said that Riga became the centre, as the works of art produced there had such a strong influence on Estonian Modernists.

Attached file: Geometrical Man_Lahoda.pdf

The publication Munich – Prague. The Visual Arts between Tradition and Modernity deals with the connections between Munich and Prague from the 1830s to the beginning of the 20th century. It is the outcome of a grant of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and the editorial work for it in the Institute of Art History of the Academy was done by Taťána Petrasová and Roman Prahl, who also wrote some of the contributions, along with Lenka Bydžovská, Luděk Jirásek, Věra Laštovičková, Lucie Vlčková, Milada Sekyrková, Caroline Sternberg, and Jindřich Vybíral.

Attached file: Mnichov–Praha_2012.docx

Christine Casey, who works in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Trinity College Dublin, and the architecture historian Conor Lucey, member of the Humanities Institute at University College Dublin, have published a book devoted to stucco decoration in the early modern period, which aims to provide a new survey of interior decoration in Ireland in relation to other European countries. The book consists of contributions by Irish, British, Italian, German, Dutch and Czech experts, who examine the theme from the point of view of style, the techniques used, the established workshop practices, and the social and economic background of the artists and those commissioning the work. An essay on Baroque stucco in Bohemia and Moravia was contributed to the publication by Martin Krummholz from the Institute of Art History. The book has been published by Four Courts Press, based in Dublin and Portland OR.

Attached file: Irsko_stuk.doc

Paolo Sanvita, Associated Professor of the Humboldt University in Berlin examins in his lecture held on 10 October 2012 at 3.30 p.m. in the Institute of Art History, Husova 4, Prague 1, room 117 the wave of Vitruvian studies which came after Copernicanism in late Cinquecento.

Attached file: 20121010_Sanvito.pdf

A new publication with the title Naprej! Česká sportovní architektura 1567-2012 [Naprej! Czech Sports Architecture 1567-2012] has been prepared and edited by Rostislav Švácha from the Institute of Art History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, in cooperation with a team of seven architectural historians. Naprej! was a slogan of the Sokol physical education movement meaning something like “Go all out to achieve your goal”.

Attached file: Sport anotace.doc

The new issue of Umění / Art has been just published. Among the articles it contains, we would lite to draw your attention to Josef Vojvodik, Jidřich Vybíral, Radka Tibitanzlová and Štěpán Vácha or Blanka Kubíková.

Attached file: UMENI 2012_3-4.pdf

Kateřina Kubínová from the Institute of Art History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, has just published a new work which focuses on the iconography of the mediaeval wall paintings in the cloister of the Na Slovanech monastery. In this cloister, also known as the Emmaus monastery, an extensive cycle of wall paintings from the time of the Emperor Charles IV has been preserved. This series of paintings, although seriously damaged, is remarkable for its extent and high artistic quality, and also for the complexity of its iconography. This book is primarily devoted to an analysis of the content of the Emmaus cycle.

Attached file: Emauzy kniha www.doc

On 19 September 2012 at 3.30 pm. in IAH Prof. Peter Kurmann one of the leading experts on French and German Gothic architecture and architectural sculpture will deliver a lecture in German on contemporary view of the “court style” of the time of Saint Louis (the French King Louis XI, †1270). The problem of the court style defined by Robert Branner nearly 50 years ago (Saint Louis and the Court Style in Gothic Architecture, 1965), and its relationship to rayonnant architecture.

An English version of a publication dealing with the SIAL architects’ studio has been prepared by a group of researchers headed by Professor Rostislav Švácha from the Institute of Art History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

This volume presents the results of the international conference “Hans von Aachen and New Research in the Transfer of Artistic Ideas into Central Europe,” organized by the Institute of Art History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v. v. i. (in particular by its research center Studia Rudolphina), in Prague on September 22–25, 2010. The conference took place at the conclusion of the exhibition Hans von Aachen (1552–1615): A Court Artist in Europe, which, with the support of the Culture Programme 2007–2013 granted by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (European Commission), was organized by the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen (11 March – 13 June 2010), Správa Pražského hradu, Prague (1 July – 3 October 2010), and by the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (19 October 2010 – 9 January 2011).

Attached file: HvAachen_in_Context_Contents.pdf

Michael Yonan, Associated Professor of the University of Missouri examins in his lecture held on 27 June 2012 at 3.30 p.m. in the Institute of Art History, Husova 4, Prague 1, room 117 Messerschmidt’s famous “Character Heads” by investigating his relationship to two contemporaries, the English Painter William Hogarth (1697–1764) and the Göttingen-based mathematician and physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799). By analysing the role of the face in the activities of the three personages can explain the interconnected dimensions of eighteenth-century visual satire expressive face.

Attached file: 20120627_Yonan.pdf

The second issue of Umění / Art for this year came out. We would like to draw your attention to the articles by Petr Wittlich, Inglid Ciulisová, Vendula Hnídková, Petr Skalický and Jan Dienstbier. See also an interview with Petr Wittlich prepared by Lenka Bydžovská and Karel Srp.

Attached file: Nové číslo časopisu Umění.doc

The idea of the project came about during the processing of a large number of photographs from the 19th century as part of the international project “Resurrected Treasure. Tools for Processing the Collection of Historical Photographs.” directed by Jiří Roháček (IAH ASCR) and coordinated by Petra Trnkova (IAH ASCR) in 2009–2010. In addition to an extensive collection of photographs, the holdings of the Documentation Department of the Institute of Art History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, also include a collection of old plans documenting alterations to buildings and parks in localities in Southern Bohemia associated with the Buquoy family (Nové Hrady and Rožmberk nad Vltavou). This material, which has not been processed until now, is of exceptional interest because of the circumstances in which it came into being. It was evidently intended to be a systematic “documentation” of the changes that occurred in the Buquoy residences and the adjacent areas, which culminated around the middle of the 19th century.

Susanne Rischpler (Würzburg) examines – in her lecture held on 30 June 2012 at 3.30 p.m. in the Institute of Art History, Husova 4, Prague 1, room 117 – the ancient art of memory. Its system of places and images forms the basis of the mnemonics in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Times. The lecture introduces these mnemonic sources and demonstrates by means of selected examples how the system of places and images manifests itself in works of art, especially in painting, book painting and graphic arts.

Attached file: 20120613_Rischpler.pdf

On Monday 30 April 2012 Prof. Vojtěch Lahoda was formally inaugurated as Director of the Institute of Art History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

The catalogue of the exhibition on Czech avant-garde in the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston – which was held under the title "New Formations: Czech Avant-Garde Art and Modern Glass from the Roy and Mary Cullen Collection" from 6.11.2011 to 5.2.2012 – would have impressed Karel Teige himself. That at any rate is the opinion of Leann Davis Alspaugh, who reviewed it for the American journal The New Criterion: "The 'New Formations' catalogue design is well-conceived with ample white space and unique square dimensions. Czech art scholars Karel Srp and Lenka Bydžovská contribute six excellen essays each of which is followed by period texts by Czech avant-gardists; Jan Merlg discusses the Czech modern glass pieces. The artists’ biographies section is especially helpful considering the number of collaborations and the range of works discussed. Teige, wo designed many limited-edition books even while he scorned 'bibliophilism', would no doubt have been impressed."

The sixth issue of Umění/Art of the last year came out. Among the articles it contains, we would like to draw your attention to the article about the true price of the crown of thorns in Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, a story of a unique lacquer casket from the formerly property of Empress Maria Theresa or the play 'Il Pazzo' (1920) by a prominent artist, the author of striking experimental works, Růžena Zátková, who lived in Rome since 1910. There she met a number of modern artists, especially Italian Futurists.

Attached file: UMENI 6_2011.pdf

Bringing together more than a hundred of the artist’s works and displaying the full range of his activities, the exhibition, ably curated by Thomas Fusenig (collaborators in Prague were Eliška Fučíková and director of the Intitute of Art History of ASCI Lubomír Konečný), may have been Hans von Aachen’s unique moment in the sun, a once-in-a-lifetime summation of the versatility of a major master of his time. Von Aachen’s itinerant career made his art itself mobile. The Prague venue of this exhibition juxtaposed two versions of the Carrying of the Cross, both from around 1587, one a demonstration of gestural freedom and Venetian colourism, the other – on copper, finishing work begun by Christoph Schwarz – an early essay in controlled ‘fine painting’ (Dutch fijnschilderie).

The most recent issue of the Studia Rudolfina Bulletin has just been published. It includes articles devoted to the plans by Elias Holl in the collections of Rudolf II, the possibility that the church of SS. Peter and Paul in Kralovice is the work of Bonifaz Wohlmut, and the church of St. James in Jičín in the context of Roman architecture around 1600. The painting of Mary Magdalene by Josef Heintz the Elder has recently been restored, leading to a revision of views held up till now.

Attached file: Stranky z SR11_obsah.pdf

Attached file: SR11 anotace-1.doc

The International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art (RIHA) currently associates nearly thirty institutions that deal with academic research and documentation in the field of art history. It was founded in Paris in 1998, and one of its founding members was the Institute of Art History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Attached file: RIHA-Measuring_Quality_Resolution.pdf