Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

In 1928, Prague hosted the VI International Congress of Drawing and Applied Arts, accompanied by the International Exhibition of Art Education, which played a crucial role in the subsequent development of avant-garde educational methods and practices in art education. Until that time, art education had been characterized by a contrast between utopian pedocentrism focused on "the artist within the child" – which led to mannered dilettantism – and mechanical drawing instruction that ignored the spiritual content of art. The avant-garde movements were represented in the exhibition by the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, which showcased the latest constructivist and functionalist tendencies in visual education and pedagogical methods. These trends entered Czechoslovak art education somewhat hesitantly. Nevertheless, in many cases they arrived more quickly than in some other countries where a faster adoption of these methods might have been expected. [Mokrý 1929, p. 216] Josef Vydra responded to these influences exceptionally quickly, implementing many of them at his School of Applied Arts, founded in 1928 in Bratislava. Works by students from this school were also included in the exhibition.

Josef Vydra was one of the most active and influential figures in 20th-century Czechoslovak culture in the field of avant-garde efforts to reform education in art, crafts, and design. He first presented his ideas for educational reform in professional periodicals (as editor of journals such as Náš směr [Our Direction] or Výtvarné snahy [Artistic Endeavors]) and at international congresses focused on drawing, folk art, and youth education. He put his theories into practice beginning in 1928 as founder, educator, and director of the Bratislava School of Applied Arts (ŠUR). From the beginning of the Second World War, he directed the Brno School of Visual Arts, and after the war, he also founded the art education program at Palacký University in Olomouc.

Representatives of Czechoslovakia (Josef Vydra, František Viktor Mokrý, Josef Richard Marek, and Bořivoj Hnátek) had already attracted positive attention during the V International Congress in Paris in 1925. Thanks to their activity at this congress, Czechoslovakia was unanimously chosen to host the next congress (instead of the other possible alternatives, Poland and Hungary) [Anonymous author 1925, p. 20].

The preparatory committee for the VI International Congress of Drawing, Art Education, and Applied Arts was established as early as 1926, with Josef Vydra as chairman and F. V. Mokrý as general secretary [Kavčáková 1998, p. 3]. The committee was granted a budget of 100,000 crowns, which eventually exceeded 300,000, and received the honorary patronage of President T. G. Masaryk and the Minister of Education and National Enlightenment, Milan Hodža (Hubatová-Vacková, 2021, p. 255). The young state's strong push for international representation generated great interest among educators, theorists, and artists. The congress thus had a mandate to comprehensively summarize all current knowledge from the world of drawing, painting, and even modern advertising [Kavčáková 1998, p. 4]. The program included 96 lectures, the most notable of which were Franz Čižek's presentations on kineticism in art and Alfons Mucha's on the importance of drawing instruction for civilization. Josef Vydra lectured on how children's ethnic background influences their talent for drawing.

The already rich congress program was supplemented by various interesting cultural events, the most important of which was undoubtedly the international Grand Drawing and Art Exhibition, open from July 29 to August 7, 1928, in the hall of the Industrial Palace in the Royal Game Preserve. This exhibition included the first major collection of artworks by children and youth since the Dresden congress in 1912. However, this event surpassed the Dresden exhibition in all respects [Kavčáková 1998, p. 4] and became a vivid illustration of the congress's aspirations. It is worth noting that the term “art education” (výtvarná výchova) in the exhibition's title was one of the first instances of this phrase being used [Šamšula 2015, p. 4] – it had previously appeared in the title of Art Education, a supplement to the journal Výtvarné snahy [Artistic Endeavors], designed in a modernist style by Ladislav Sutnar, who also created the official poster for the Exhibition of Art Education [Kavčáková 2018, p. 402].

The exhibition aimed to present the results of educational activities focused on developing creative abilities not only in artistically gifted individuals but also in ordinary students at elementary and secondary schools, thus cultivating their sense of contemporary art, especially in the field of applied arts. [Kavčáková 2018, p. 402]

The left wing of the Industrial Palace showcased works by students from Czechoslovak schools of all types and levels, from kindergartens to the Academy of Fine Arts. This substantial collection was supplemented by albums documenting the history of drawing instruction. The centre of the palace housed presentations by companies specializing in art education and artistic creation (such as book production and school desk manufacturing). The right wing contained installations of the results of contemporary instruction in drawing, painting, sculpting, and crafts from 14 foreign countries, with the Bauhaus collection attracting particular attention. The smaller exhibition palace was dedicated to modern works by artists from leading Czechoslovak artistic associations, alongside examples of unique artistic and methodological approaches [Kavčáková 2018, p. 402].

The exhibition featured more than 25,000 works by students of all types and levels from Czechoslovak and international schools. President T. G. Masaryk repeatedly visited the Bratislava student exhibition, recognizing the importance of school democratization reforms and aesthetic education, and the potential of modernizing teaching strategies. [Hubatová-Vacková 2021, p. 255] Chambers of commerce and trade presented themselves at the exhibition with examples of applied graphics (advertising posters, packaging, etc.) and there were also exhibitions of Czechoslovak art associations (Hollar, Mánes, or the Artistic Forum). The collection of folk art assembled by the Museum of Applied Arts was a particularly successful event. [Kavčáková 1998, p. 5]

From the perspective of interwar Czechoslovak art education, the congress and the exhibition were extraordinary events of international significance. Their primary goals were to re-establish good relations between teachers of drawing and artists across nations, to create an international language of communication through modern teaching methods in drawing, to utilize drawing as an effective means for the benefit of industry and commerce, and to link school drawing instruction to trends highlighting the convergence of fine and applied arts (Marek – Mokrý 1925, p. 15; Mokrý 1925, pp. 8–11).

Charlotte Zimová

Works Cited

Hubatová-Vacková 2021: Lada Hubatová-Vacková, V zájmu dítěte, národa i státu. Vydrovy reformní aktivity v oblasti kreslení a uměleckého průmyslu, in: Klára Prešnajderová – Simona Bérešová – Sonia de Puineuf (eds.), ŠUR. Škola uměleckých řemesel v Bratislavě 1928–1939, Bratislava 2021, pp. 255–283

Kavčáková 1998: Alena Kavčáková, K historii VI. mezinárodního kongresu pro kreslení, užitá umění a uměleckou výchovu v Praze, Výtvarná výchova, 1998, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 3–5

Kavčáková 2018: Alena Kavčáková, Z korespondence F. V. Mokrého s účastníky VI. mezinárodního kongresu pro kreslení a užitá umění v Praze — Galkou E. Scheyerovou, Josefem Albersem a Lucií Moholy-Nagyovou, Umění 5 / LXVI / 2018, pp. 400–421

Marek, Mokrý 1925: J. R. Marek – F. R. Mokrý, V. mezinárodní kongres pro kreslení, uměleckou výchovu a užitá umění v Paříži roku 1925, Náš směr XV, 1925, p. 15

Mokrý 1925: F. V. Mokrý, Kreslení a průmysl, Náš směr XV, 1925, pp. 8–11

Mokrý 1929: F. V. Mokrý, Kreslení v československé škole a Adolf Loos, Řeči do prázdna: soubor statí o architektuře, bydlení, ústroji a jiných praktických věcech, které uspořádal Dr. Bohumil Markalous, Praha 1929

Further Reading

Alena Kavčáková, Organizátorské a teoretické dílo Josefa Vydry v kontextu umělecké a výtvarně pedagogické avantgardy 20. století, in: Alena Kavčáková / Hana Myslivečková (eds.), Josef Vydra (1884-1959) v kontextu umělecké a výtvarně pedagogické avantgardy 20. století [historie a současnost univerzitního výtvarného vzdělávání v Olomouci], Olomouc 2010, pp. 19–32

F. V. M[okrý], Výstava výtvarných prací ze všech druhů škol, užité grafiky a školních potřeb při VI. mezinárodním kongresu pro kreslení a užitá umění v Praze 1928, Venkov XXIII, 1928, no. 91, 15. 4., p. 8

Kongresová zpráva. Vydal výbor VI. mezinárodního kongresu pro kreslení a užitá umění, Praha 1931

Anonymous author, VI. mezinárodní kongres pro kreslení, Český učitel XXX, 1927, no. 40, 26. 05., pp. 705–706

Anonymous author, VI. mezinárodní kongres pro kreslení, Český učitel XXXI, 1927, no. 12, 17. 11., pp. 217–218

Anonymous author, V Průmyslovém paláci ve Stromovce jest otevřena Mezinárodní výstava "výtvarné výchovy"..., Pestrý týden III, 1928, no. 31, 4. 8., p. 15

Anonymous author, VI. mezinárodní kongres pro kreslení a užitá umění v Praze 1928..., Pestrý týden III, 1928, no. 31, 4. 8., p. 15

Anonymous author, VI. mezinárodní kongres pro kreslení, užitá umění a uměleckou výchovu bude se konati…, Vitrinka na krásné knihy, vazby a jiné hezké věci V, 1927–1928, no. 3, 14. 01. 1928, p. 102

Anonymous author, VI. mezinárodní kongres pro kreslení a užitá umění, Venkov XXII, 1927, no. 204, 28. 8., p. 3

Anonymous author, VI. mezinárodní kongres pro kreslení a užitá umění, Venkov XXIII, 1928, no. 137, 10. 6., p. 8

Anonymous author, VI. mezinárodní kongres pro kreslení a užitá umění v Praze 1928, Venkov XXIII, 1928, no. 1, 1. 1., p. 8

Anonymous author, VI. mezinárodní kongres pro kreslení a užitá umění v Praze 1928, Venkov XXIII, 1928, no. 165, 13. 7., p. 7

Anonymous author, Od 29. července..., Vlastivědný sborník okresů slánského a novostrašeckého VI, 1928–1929, p. 20

Anonym, VI. mezinárodní kongres pro kreslení, užité umění a uměleckou výchovu bude…, Typografia XXXIV, 1927, no. 4, p. 74

F. V. M[okrý], VI. M. K. K. v Praze 1928, Nové směry I, 1927–1928, p. 96

E. Strnad, Poznámky k Rádlově "Revisi pokrokových ideálů v národní škole", Křesťanská revue, 1929, no. 5, 15. 1., p. 142

O. Zícha, Okolo VI. M. K. K., Nové směry I, 1927–1928, p. 109