Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

This exhibition was organized to mark the transfer of artworks from the Artistic Forum's collection to the state, specifically to the State Collection of Old Art. In 1918, this institution replaced the Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts (SVPU) after it was nationalized, and it directly preceded the establishment of the National Gallery. The National Gallery was formed in 1942 through the merger of the Modern Gallery and the State Collection of Old Art, with the National Gallery Act being issued in 1949.

Key figures in preparing the exhibition were Vojtěch Volavka and Václav Rabas, both of whom contributed texts for the catalogue. Vojtěch Volavka, an art historian, focused on the development of the SVPU’s collection and created the concept of the exhibition. Václav Rabas, who was the chairman of the Artistic Forum at the time, emphasized the collection's ideological significance in shaping the ideal of national art.

The collection was not built systematically. Volavka associated its beginnings with the Artistic Forum’s permanent exhibition which was held in 1872-1876 and then replaced by the Christmas exhibition [Volavka 1949, p. 5]. Works from the permanent exhibition that were neither sold nor raffled among the members were transferred to the Artistic Forum’s collection, as were works purchased from artists or from their estates to support their families, works acquired through artists' bequests, or works (mostly drawings) created in competitions. Prominent representatives of the local art world (Josef Mánes, Soběslav Pinkas, Karel Purkyně, Jaroslav Čermák, Václav Levý, Bohuslav Schnirch) participated in the management and activities of the Art Forum and ensured that the collection included important works by contemporary artists. Practically all members of the so-called National Theatre Generation were simultaneously members of the Artistic Forum, adding to the prestige of the association. These artists joined together to edit the newspaper Národ sobě and for this reason, the collection also included their works. Both authors of the catalogue emphasized the importance of merging the Artistic Forum's collection with the state art collection in order to provide a more comprehensive view of 19th-century Czech art. Rabas, in particular, drew attention to the relationship between the tradition of the Art Forum and the tradition of 19th-century Czech art. In an expressive tone, he emphasized the existence of a contemporary artistic tradition that, in his opinion, contained an essential and distinctive component, which the 1940 exhibition demonstrated [Rabas 1940, p. 5].  

Among the most important works in the exhibition were Mánes's Banner of the Lukes Singing Society and its decorative panel, Pinkas's oil The Woodcutter and Death, Purkyně's paintings of the Procession during Shakespeare's Festivities, Čermák's Dalmatian Wedding and Václav Levý's sculpture Adam and Eve. There was also a remarkable collection of drawings which included Mánes's design for a diploma of the Union of Fine Arts (Jednota umělců výtvorných), the design for the drawing Záboj and Slavoj in the Ravine as one of the illustrations for the Manuscript of Dvůr Králové and designs for the Astronomical Clock medallions. The archive of the Artistic Forum contains an album of original photographs that were used in the catalogue; other materials related to the preparation of the exhibition have not been preserved.

The importance of this exhibition is linked to its timing – it was held at the beginning of the Second World War. The emphasis on the local artistic tradition can be seen as an expression of the fear of the Nazi occupation and the simultaneous rise of patriotism.

Pavla Machalíková

Works Cited

Rabas 1940: Václav Rabas, Nad albem rodinným, in: Galerie Umělecké besedy. Obrazy, plastiky a kresby českých mistrů 19. století (exh. cat., Umělecká beseda), Praha 1940, pp. 5–6

Volavka 1940: Vojtěch Volavka, Úvodem, in: Galerie Umělecké besedy. Obrazy, plastiky a kresby českých mistrů 19. století (exh. cat., Umělecká beseda), Praha 1940, pp. 7–9

Archival Sources

LA PNP, fonds Umělecká beseda [Artistic Forum], box B 57

Anonymous author, Čeští malíři XIX. století, Český deník XXIX, 1940, no. 251, 12. 9., p. 2

Anonymous author, Galerie Umělecké besedy, Polední list XIV, 1940, no. 277, 7. 10., p. 2

Anonymous author, Výtvarný odbor Umělecké besedy do nové sezony, Venkov XXXV, 1940, no. 208, 5. 9., p. 6

Fa, Umělecká beseda se připravuje, Moravský večerník XIX, 1940, no. 255, 16. 9., p. 3

Jrm [Josef Richard Marek], Výtvarná sezona začíná, Národní listy LXXX, 1940, no. 241, 5. 9., p. 4

Ad. Veselý, Výtvarné umění, Zvon XLIV, 1940, no. 6, 23. 10., p. 83