Exhibition archive

Marco Bagnoli In collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute, the Czech Museum of Fine Arts is presenting an installation by Marco Bagnoli, a leading contemporary Italian artist.

Franta Úprka 1868 – 1929 This exhibition of work by Franta Uprka, the younger brother of the painter Joža Uprka, reveals a chapter of Czech sculpture from the turn of the 20th century that is little-known to viewers in Prague. Franta Uprka’s sculptures represent a fusion between European trends of the day and his profound emotional bond with his native Slovácko region in south-east Moravia. Most of his work is made up of small-scale sculptures, though larger pieces in the form of tombstone sculpture can also be seen in Prague.

Puppets – the Loveliest Present The Czech Museum of Fine Arts, Prague, is continuing its tradition of Christmas exhibitions meant above all for children but also for grown-ups. The exhibition focuses on a phenomenon that is inextricably linked with Christmas time – the rich variety of Czech fairytales that bring together both pagan and Christian inspiration. The exhibition was prepared by the Theatre Department of the Prague National Museum.

The Tvrdohlaví Group Twenty Years On The reason for this meeting of former members of the Tvrdohlaví (Stubborn Ones) group, first held late last year at the Gallery of Fine Art in Ostrava and now at the Czech Museum of Fine Arts in Prague, is the 20th anniversary of the group’s founding exhibition. In 1987 nine painters and sculptors presented their work together for the first time at the Community Hall in Prague-Vysočany. With their official presentation, these students and fresh graduates of the Prague Academy of Fine Arts and the Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design broke the long-standing hegemony of the official Czechoslovak Artists Union and followed on from the earlier dynamic tradition of art groups in this country.

Jaroslav Šerých An exhibition featuring graphic works created by JAROSLAV ŠERÝCH, held as part of St Wenceslas Celebrations, collections of the Havlíčkův Brod Gallery

Zdeněk Lhotský and Studio Pelechov Zdeněk Lhotský (1956), a member of the now legendary Tvrdohlaví (Stubborn Ones) group, has a special place in the field of glass art that was so important in Czech art as a whole during the second half of the 20th century. Zdeněk Lhotský is not only an original artist in his own right – his work includes both free-form and applied art in a convincing whole – but also plays an inspiring role in running Studio Pelechov near Železný Brod in northern Bohemia, which has become a focal point for many leading figures from the Czech Republic and other countries (such as Čestmír Suška, Stefan Milkov, Jiří Plieštik, Karen LaMonte, Alena Matoušková and Michal Gabriel).

Jiří Kačer. Cores The loose ‘Alternatives’ exhibition series continues with a project by the sculptor Jiří Kačer (1952) entitled Cores. Kačer, who not only makes free-form sculpture but is also a sculpture restorer (for instance he made copies of Petr Parléř’s sculptures on the Old Town Tower of Charles Bridge) enters the Romanesque cellar spaces of the CMFA with an installation whose individual stone elements taken from geological bore holes are individualised in a highly restrained way by the sculptor’s interventions. It is as if he seeks to raise doubts in our minds as to whether we are standing in front of a work of nature, an artefact from some ancient civilisation or simple remains left by ordinary human activity of the present day.

Jaroslav Šerých 2008 sees the eightieth birthday of Jaroslav Šerých, who is still fully active in his work. Šerých is one the artists who emerged on the Czech art scene after graduating from the Prague Academy of Fine Arts during the first half of the 1960s. His work, focused above all on painting, printmaking, drawing and illustration, was initially influenced by structural abstraction, ultimately developing towards a specific individual position characterised by spiritual and religious meanings.

Exoticisms in 20th-century Art in Bohemia and Moravia This exhibition traces the phenomenon of how cultural models from exotic countries have been adopted by Czech art since the turn of the 20th century. It acquaints visitors with a wide selection of Czech artists (from Otakar Nejedlý to Otto Placht) who represent the period variations of exoticisms appearing in various fields of art, ranging from the classical disciplines of painting and sculpture to architecture and applied art. The exhibition is accompanied by sound and film documents, and also includes musical programmes focusing mainly on world music.

Exhibition of prize winners of the 4th International Triennial of Graphic Arts Prague 2004 This exhibition features the work of five artists who were awarded prizes at the last Prague Print Triennial in 2004: Bodo Korsig (Germany, Grand Prix), Vojtěch Kovářík (Czech Republic, 1st Prize), Zuli Olcese (Argentina, 2nd Prize), Irene Wydler (Switzerland, 3rd Prize) and Jiří Samek (Czech Republic, Honorary Jury Prize). Despite their diverse individual approaches, these artists share a conviction in the potential of addressing issues of the contemporary world through 'traditional' printmaking.