Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

In 1885, the annual exhibition of the Krasoumná jednota (Fine Arts Association) was for the first held in the newly built Rudolfinum. The press welcomed the fact that Prague’s most important showcase for contemporary art had finally found a worthy venue, and it also appreciated the extraordinary scope of the exhibition (the catalogue contains a total of 689 items). Due to the sheer number of works, the opening was postponed from April 15 to April 19 and then extended from June 15 to June 21.

The organizers allowed the brothers Karel and Adolf Liebscher to present a larger selection of their work as part of the exhibition. Similar “exhibitions within an exhibition” became common practice in the following years – for example, the 1886 annual show presented Jiří Stibral’s studies from his travels in Italy, and in 1887, Antonín Waldhauser exhibited his landscapes in this way. However, the Liebscher exhibition was unique in its scope.  It was installed in the very first hall and therefore appeared at the beginning of the catalogue.

It contained a total of 229 items (the catalogue does not distinguish between oil, watercolour, and drawing), 128 of which were by Karel Liebscher - mostly studies from Italy, Tyrol, and Istria, along with small figural studies and drawings, such as the drawing depicting the National Theatre in Prague after the fire. We may assume that many of these works were published in illustrated magazines. The remaining 101 items were Adolf Liebscher’s studies from Italy, ethnographic and genre works, landscapes from the Moravian and Slovak countryside, a cartoon for the Zlatá Praha Premium with the illustrated song Where My Home Is, illustration for the poem Ve stínu lípy (In the Shadow of the Linden Tree) by Svatopluk Čech and Třebízský's novel Pro bílou labuť švamberskou (For the White Swan of Schwamberg), several studies for decorative paintings, and historical compositions – thematizing primarily the reign of Charles IV, but also the Hussite period and the Counter-Reformation. These historical compositions were mostly intended for illustrated magazines, with which both brothers had collaborated for several years. Some of them had already been published at the time of the exhibition - e.g. Charles IV in Pisa, Záviš of Falkenštejn at the Court of Queen Kunhuta, and Lord, Stay with Us, since It Is Getting Late (Zlatá Praha 1884), while others were yet to be published - Charles IV Overlooks the Construction of the Prague Stone Bridge (Světozor 1886) and The Burning of King George of Poděbrady's Heart (Zlatá Praha 1885). The most ambitious work by Adolf Liebscher, a religious painting representing St. John the Baptist, was made for the town Janské Lázně. 

The reactions to the exhibition in the press reflect the contrast between the illustrated magazines to which both artists regularly contributed and the more literary magazines Ruch and Osvěta. Both Světozor and Zlatá Praha praised the exhibition, especially Vilém Weitenweber, the picture editor of Zlatá Praha, who preceded his review of the exhibition with biographies of both brothers. K. B. Mádl, on the other hand, subjected the exhibition to scathing criticism in Ruch, concentrating mainly on the uncritical selection of the exhibited works, with cursory sketches alongside the finished works. He also touched upon the practice of publishers and illustrated magazines to promote “their” artists at all costs: “The Liebscher brothers (...) hoarded everything they could in their youthful enthusiasm. (...) They are as prolific as few in Bohemia (...) they supply every illustrated periodical and every magazine, and they have an illustration ready before anyone can even express a wish. It is to the advantage of every publisher that a sufficiently fat advertisement should spread the excellence of his enterprise throughout the world, and so it has happened that, not gradually but in a tremendous rush, we have cultivated these “masters,” these Czech “Dorés,” or whatever cheap epithets we may give them, and they truly believe that their art is of great value (...)” [Mádl 1885, p. 263]. Here, Mádl’s text alludes to the plethora of “international” comparisons in the illustrated press. For example, the reviewer for the magazine Světozor mentioned Adolf Liebscher’s painting of St. John the Baptist which reminded him of “old masters like Ribera” [anonymous author 1885, p. 331]. Mádl had already criticized Adolf Liebscher a year earlier, describing his illustrations of Jaroslav Vrchlický’s Legenda o sv. Prokopu (Legend of St. Procopius) as lifeless, superficial, and unoriginal in their artistic expression [Mádl 1884, p. 395]. 

Renáta Tyršová was more diplomatic in her review of the exhibition in Osvěta – she gave it a rather positive assessment, praising Karel Liebscher’s sense of light and colour composition and criticizing him only for his tendency to stretch the truth in his pursuit of picturesqueness Adolf Liebscher was, in her opinion, an artist of many talents, although none of his exhibited works, including the painting of St John the Baptist, was entirely flawless. Like Mádl, she criticized the superficiality of execution in some of the works. In particular, she mentioned “a collection of drawings intended for reproduction” [Tyršová 1885, p. 644], i.e. drawings on grid (zincographic) paper, created primarily for illustrated magazines (this was the technique that Mádl criticized in the above-discussed article on the illustrations for the Legend of St. Procopius).

For the Liebscher brothers, this was the first major exhibition of their work. In Adolf’s case in particular, it was intended to demonstrate his versatility and ability to master all the genres in demand at the time. The critical reviews clearly did not detract from the general popularity of both artists, especially in illustrated magazines, because in the following decade, they were among the busiest painters and illustrators in Bohemia.

Markéta Dlábková

Works Cited

Anonymous author 1885: Anonymous author, Umělecká výstava v Rudolfinum II, Světozor XIX, 1885, no. 20, p. 315, no. 21, p. 331

Mádl 1885: Karel B. Mádl, Umělecká výstava v Rudolfinu, Ruch VII, 1885, no. 16, p. 263, no. 17, pp. 278–279

Tyršová 1885: Renáta Tyršová, Výstava krasoumné jednoty v Rudolfině, Osvěta XV, 1885, no. 7, pp. 639–649, o Liebscherech pp. 642–645 

Further Reading

Karel B. Mádl, Rozhledy, Ruch VI, 1884, no. 24, pp. 394–395 

V. W. [Vilém Weitenweber], Karel Liebscher; Adolf Liebscher, Zlatá Praha II, 1885, no. 19, p. 258

Anonym, Dům umělců Rudolfinum, Národní listy XXV, 1885, n. 103, 15. 4., p. 2

Anonym, Zlatá Praha II, 1885, n. 18, p. 244