Art of the long century 1796-1918
Subtitle: portrait of the collection
By: Veronika Hulíková, Otto M. Urban, Filip Wittlich (eds.) ; translation Lucie Kasíková
Contributors: Národní galerie v Praze
Publisher: National Gallery Prague
Published: 2019
Place of publication: Prague
Language: eng
Number of pages: 231
ISBN-13: 9788070357309
Subjects: Art; Modern Arts; Národní galerie v Praze
Description: Formerly intended for trade fairs, this gem of Czech Functionalist architecture has been the seat of the National Gallery Prague from 1976. Built in 1925-1928 after the plans of architects Josef Fuchs and Oldřich Tyl, the imposing building was the largest edifice of its kind in the world. The exhibition 1796-1918: Art of the Long Century purposefully and naturally connects Czech and international art. The selection shows more than 450 artworks by 150 artists in three major chapters: Man, The World and Ideas. The exhibition presents painting as well as sculpture. Free sculpture is accompanied by paintings. Public sculpture forms a separate section paraphrasing three basic themes in the sections of Architecture, Monument and Tombstone with respect to a selected approach and availability of the exhibits. Therefore, the artists of different art opinions and very different generations can be seen at the exhibition side by side, such as Josef Mánes next to Pablo Picasso, Josef Navrátil next to Bohumil Kubišta or Antonio Canova next to Franz von Stuck. The exhibition's thematic division made it possible to subdivide it into many small subgroups of artworks representing independent sections ranging from self-portraits, family and official portraits to paintings of cafés, lively city boulevards, spring landscapes, mountain lakes or artworks with religious or mythological themes. Exhibition: Trade Fair Palace, National Gallery Prague, Czech Republic (permanent exhibition).
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 230-231)