Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

The print collection of the National Gallery (then the Czech-Moravian Provincial Gallery) was created in 1942 by merging the collections of the National and Modern Galleries and the National Museum [Zelenková 2019, p. 10]. Immediately after the war, it was moved to the Kramář Villa. The exhibition of Václav Hollar’s Urban Vedute, which took place in the autumn of 1945, was only the third postwar show of the National Gallery, after the exhibitions Baroque Art of the 17th and 18th Centuries and the Exhibition of Selected Works from the 14th to 20th Centuries, and the first postwar exhibition of the Print Collection. The work of Václav Hollar, who was considered the founder of the Czech printmaking tradition, presented a natural choice for the first exhibition of the newly established collection. The show focused on urban vedute, one of Hollar's most well-known subjects. In his text for the exhibition catalogue, Rudolf Rouček says: “Václav Hollar grasped and mastered the representation of the city as a new type of landscape art” [Loriš – Rouček 1945, p. 15]. The landscapes and cityscapes are rendered with a calm, “cartographic” approach typical for Hollar, and most of them consist of three horizontal planes [Volrábová 2017, p. 150]. Visitors to the exhibition could see 53 of Hollar’s etchings and drawings. Most of them represented his earlier oeuvre, depicting Central-European towns and cities, primarily in today’s Germany (Rhineland) and Austria (Danube Region). The show contained eight vedute from Great Britain (London – 6 prints, Windsor – 1 print, Edinburgh – 1 print), while Prague appeared in two etchings and one pen drawing. One of the works documented Hollar’s remarkable trip to Africa, which he undertook at a relatively old age (View of Algiers).

Vladimír Novotný (1901–1977), the new director of the National Gallery, gave the opening speech, followed by Jan Loriš (1893–1953), an art historian, critic, and pedagogue, who worked as the director of the Print Collection from 1945 until his death [Slavíček 2016, p. 838]. Novotný mentioned the importance of printmaking in Czech art, and Loriš emphasized the significance of the new print collection, which was to become one of the most prominent collections of its kind in Europe [Š. J. 1945]. The guests at the opening included “the head of the President’s Office, Ambassador Smutný, and numerous guests from cultural circles” [Anonymous author 1945]. According to press reports, the opening was well attended, as is evident from the surviving photographs.

The show had a small catalogue featuring the same graphic design as the other early catalogues of the National Gallery. Jan Loriš authored the introductory text focusing on the origins of the Print Collection. The second, shorter text, dedicated to Hollar’s work, was written by Rudolf Rouček (1908–1979). Rouček had already worked in the Print Collection during the Second World War and then continued as an employee of the Print Collection at the newly established National Gallery between 1945 and 1952 [Slavíček 2016, p. 1235]. Zdeněk Záhořík, a volunteer, as archival sources suggest, created the list of exhibited artworks. The visitor book preserved in the Archive of the National Gallery (Memorial Book of the Graphic Collection, National Gallery in Prague) shows that the exhibition was popular in the Czech cultural world at the time, with visitors including persons such as Božena Jelínková Jirásková, Alice Masaryková, Otakar Votoček, Václav Mencl and Dobroslav Líbal. 

Reviewers in the press mostly commented on the exhibition space. In his text for Svobodné noviny, Otakar Mrkvička wrote: “Print collections have found an excellent place in the former Kramář villa, uniquely situated facing a magnificent city panorama in a charming and calm environment, well suited for quiet study. Private property is finally becoming useful in its new cultural role. Now everyone can enjoy the treasures preserved here” [om 1945]. Naturally, the reviews also highlighted Hollar’s realism and masterful drawing technique [Š. J. 1945].

The Václav Hollar exhibition presented a worthy opening to the activities of the Collection of Prints and Drawings. It is hardly surprising that the works of this “canonical” printmaker appeared many times in the National Gallery’s exhibitions, most recently at the turn of 2019 and 2020, always enjoying great popularity among the public.

Markéta Kudláčová    

Works Cited

Mrkvička 1945: om [Otakar Mrkvička], Výstava vybraných děl NG, Svobodné noviny, II. vydání, 17. 11. 1945, Archive of the National Gallery in Prague, fonds Moderní galerie (1902–1942), Výstřižkové knihy k výstavám, umělcům a činnosti MG i jiných galerií [Books of clippings concerning exhibitions, artists and the activity of MG and other galleries], acc. no. 939, book no 38 (Státní galerie)

Anonymous author 1945: Z Kramářovy vily obrazárna, Národní Osvobození, Praha, II. vydání, 18. 11. 1945, Archive of the National Gallery in Prague, fonds Moderní galerie (1902–1942), Výstřižkové knihy k výstavám, umělcům a činnosti MG i jiných galerií [Books of clippings concerning exhibitions, artists and the activity of MG and other galleries], acc. no. 939, book no 38 (Státní galerie)

Loriš – Rouček 1945: Jan Loriš – Rudolf Rouček, Městské veduty Václava Hollara (exh. cat.), Národní galerie v Praze 1945

Slavíček 2016: Lubomír Slavíček (ed.), Slovník historiků umění, výtvarných kritiků, teoretiků a publicistů v českých zemích a jejích spolupracovníků z příbuzných oborů (asi 1800–2008), Praha 2016.

Š. J. 1945: Š. J., Sbírky Národní galerie přístupny, Lidová demokracie, 21. 11. 1945, Archive of the National Gallery in Prague, fonds Moderní galerie (1902–1942), Výstřižkové knihy k výstavám, umělcům a činnosti MG i jiných galerií [Books of clippings concerning exhibitions, artists and the activity of MG and other galleries], acc. no. 939, book no 38 (Státní galerie)

Volrábová 2007: Alena Volrábová (ed.): Václav Hollar (1607–1677) a Evropa mezi životem a zmarem (exh. cat.), Národní galerie v Praze 2007

Zelenková 2019: Petra Zelenková, Sbírka staré kresby a grafiky v Národní galerii Praha, in: Petra Zelenková (ed.), Linie světlo stín. Výběr z mistrovských děl evropské grafiky a kresby 16. – 18. století, Národní galerie v Praze, 2019, pp. 9–13

Further Reading

Jiřina Volková, Václav Hollar. Kresby – lepty (exh. cat.), Národní galerie v Praze 1969

Anthony Griffiths – Gabriela Kesnerová, Wenceslaus Hollar, Prints and Drawings, London 1983

Berhold Roland: Wenzel Hollar 1607–1677 – Reisebilder vom Rhein. Städte und Burgen am Mittelrhein in Zeichnungen und Radierungen (exh. cat.), Mainz, Landesmuseum, 1986

Richard T. Godfrey, Wenceslaus Hollar, New Haven 1993

Alena Volrábová, Africké dobrodružství Václava Hollara. Grafický kabinet (exh. cat.), Národní galerie v Praze, 2013

Alena Volrábová (ed.), Václav Hollar (1607–1677). Kresby (exh. cat.), Národní galerie v Praze 2017

Alena Volrábová – Lenka Babická: Václav Hollar a umění kresby (exh. cat.), Národní galerie v Praze 2019

Archival Sources

Archive of the National Gallery in Prague, fonds Dokumentace výstav NG, 1945–1958

Archive of the National Gallery in Prague, fonds Moderní galerie (1902–1942), Výstřižkové knihy k výstavám, umělcům a činnosti MG i jiných galerií [Books of clippings concerning exhibitions, artists and the activity of MG and other galleries], acc. no. 939, book no 38 (Státní galerie)

Archive of the National Gallery in Prague, fonds Návštěvní knihy výstav Národní galerie, Pamětní kniha Grafické sbírky Národní galerie v Praze [Visitor books of the National Gallery, Visitor book of the Print Collection, National Gallery in Prague], without inv.no.

Anonymous author, Národní osvobození, Praha, 2. vydání, 18. 11. 1945, Archive of the National Gallery in Prague, fonds Moderní galerie (1902–1942), Výstřižkové knihy k výstavám, umělcům a činnosti MG i jiných galerií [Books of clippings concerning exhibitions, artists and the activity of MG and other galleries], acc. no. 939, book no 38 (Státní galerie)

Ďk, Co bude s vilami z pozůstalosti Dr. Kramáře?, Stráž severu I,1945, no. 152, 27. 11., p. 2

om, Výstava vybraných děl NG, Svobodné noviny II, 17. 11. 1945, Archive of the National Gallery in Prague, fonds Moderní galerie (1902–1942), Výstřižkové knihy k výstavám, umělcům a činnosti MG i jiných galerií [Books of clippings concerning exhibitions, artists and the activity of MG and other galleries], acc. no. 939, book no 38 (Státní galerie)

Š. J., Sbírky Národní galerie přístupny, Lidová demokracie, 21. 11. 1945, Archive of the National Gallery in Prague, fonds Moderní galerie (1902–1942), Výstřižkové knihy k výstavám, umělcům a činnosti MG i jiných galerií [Books of clippings concerning exhibitions, artists and the activity of MG and other galleries], acc. no. 939, book no 38 (Státní galerie)