Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

The Brno House of Artists was the most interesting exhibition space in the city. Together with the House of Artists in Ostrava and several other places in Olomouc and Opava, it was the best exhibition venue in Moravia and Czech Silesia in the interwar period. In the 1930s, the dramaturgy of the Moravian Art Association settled into a pattern of regular collective shows of mostly German-speaking art associations. The few remaining dates were filled with exhibitions of prominent international artists and presentations of the most successful artists from the region. The organizers focused on the Brno art scene and artists from its immediate surroundings, but they were also aware of the position of Brno as a provincial cultural centre offering exhibition opportunities for the best artists from Moravia and Silesia. For this reason, it was not particularly easy for an artist to showcase a larger body of work in the House of Artists. In November 1936, after ten years of active participation in the local art scene, Brno artist Oskar Spielmann (1901-1974) succeeded in doing just that.

Spielmann presented himself at the House of Artists in a joint exhibition with Marie Ehlerová from Třebíč, Professor Edmund Pick-Morino, born in Komárno and living in Paris, and the painter Frieda Salvendy, who divided her time between Prague, Slovakia, and Vienna. These were four independent presentations of contemporary art. Marie Ehlerová’s participation illustrates the cosmopolitan approach of the Moravian Art Association’s dramaturgy, which, although primarily oriented towards the production of the German-speaking art scene, did not close itself off to ethnically Czech art from the region or to international art. Of the four artists, Spielmann received the most space and exhibited the largest number of works, so this entry is dedicated to his show. In the vestibule, there was another exhibition of ten watercolours and three charcoal drawings by the Brno painter Otto Ernegg. A list of his works was included in the catalogue on a loose leaf.  

Oskar Spielmann’s exhibition loosely followed the streak of successful presentations of what the Brno public saw as “exotic” material from distant lands, such as the (sold-out) exhibition of the Middle Eastern works by Ludwig Blum (House of Artists, 1923) or, for example, Maxim Kopf’s Prague exhibitions at the Krasoumná jednota (1927, 1935), where he presented his works from the Pacific. Spielmann exhibited works from 1931-1936 inspired by his travels in North Africa. Most of them depict Algeria where Spielmann arrived in the summer of 1931 from France, supported by a scholarship from the Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment, and where he spent most of his time. He also travelled to other Maghreb countries – Morocco and Tunisia, from where he also drew themes for his works. He also took a trip to the Mediterranean in 1934. The exhibition contained 69 oil paintings, 12 gouaches and an unspecified number of watercolours, drawings, and prints. The paintings were either oils on canvas or works on cardboard, mostly portraits, cityscapes, and figural compositions. Spielmann captured the atmosphere and everyday life of major cities (Algiers, Oran, Marrakech, Meknes, Fez, Rabat, Tunis), but he also travelled inland. In 1932, he visited the Algerian desert city of Biskra. He created several paintings in the famous Algerian desert settlement of Bou-Saâda and in the surrounding oases of Tolga, Ouled Djellal, El Hamel, and Djelfa, where many European artists travelled to experience the magic of the Ouled Naïl women’s culture, although it was already becoming a somewhat infamous attraction in Spielmann’s time.

Spielmann’s interpretations of the North African environment were based on the everyday reality of Algerian or Moroccan society during the colonial period. But he also manipulated reality, often to the point of creating fairy-tale, dream-like visions, as in the romantic compositions he made in Brno in the late 1920s. This style tapped into the imagination of Central European audiences, their interest in travelogues and exoticism, and actual travel to North Africa, which was very popular in the 1930s and even affordable for some sections of society. Algeria in the 1930s was dominated by France, and the coastal towns, in particular, had a strong European character. 

The Brno exhibition was accompanied by a simple catalogue consisting of four sheets in portrait format (1/3 A4) stapled together. It contained only the titles and numbers of the exhibited works. Both Czech and German-language media covered the exhibition, and the reviews were largely positive. They informed readers about the Algerian context of Spielmann’s works and characterized his style. For example, J. B. Svrček wrote: “[Spielmann] does content himself with mere visual interpretations of colour moods, but inserts a subjective, emotionally charged vision of colour in his landscapes, which are composed in subtle white or brown shades.” If the reviewers criticized anything, it was only partial elements of Spielmann’s work, such as the “erotic, sensual impudence” of his nudes, as Antonín Friedl pointed out.

Spielmann’s North African works then travelled to Prague, where they were exhibited in Krasoumná jednota’s rooms on Pštrossova Street – Spielmann had a solo exhibition there from December 16 to January 12, 1937. After that, the show was repeated under the title Pictures from North Africa in Bratislava, where it was held in the rooms of the local art association [Pressburger Kunstverein] on Kapitulská Street (February 4 –17, 1937). At least a dozen of the exhibited works found new owners among private collectors, mostly from Brno; the Modern Gallery bought the oil on cardboard Algerian Harbour.

In the context of the interwar exhibition activity in Czechoslovakia, Spielmann’s three consecutive exhibitions in Brno, Prague, and Bratislava represent a unique phenomenon. Spielmann was fortunate to have organized the shows in the period before the Munich Agreement and, unlike many other of his equally skilful German-speaking contemporaries, he achieved what was at the time a remarkable success, undoubtedly thanks to the North African theme in his works.

The exhibition ended just in time for the organizers to return works from private collections to their owners. Spielmann himself left for Algeria in 1937 on another grant and never came back, leaving his remaining works behind. Many of his relatives died or suffered during the Holocaust, and after 1945, it became practically impossible for Spielmann to exhibit in Czechoslovakia.  

Ivo Habán

Literature

Ivo Habán, Oskar Spielmann. Brno Alger Toulon, Arbor vitae, v Řevnicích 2023

Ivo Habán, Na dohled Vídně, ve stínu Prahy? Mährischer Kunstverein a Vereinigung deutscher bildender Künstler Mährens und Schlesiens „Scholle“, in: Anna Habánová (ed.), Mladí lvi v kleci. Umělecké skupiny německy hovořících výtvarníků z Čech, Moravy a Slezska v meziválečném období, Liberec – Řevnice 2013, pp. 60–79

Ivo Habán, Brněnský dům umělců jako výstavní centrum německy hovořících umělců z Moravy, Slezska a Čech, in: Lubomír Slavíček, Janá Vránová (eds.), 100 let Domu umění města Brna (exh. cat.), Brno 2010, pp. 71–96

Jitka Sedlářová, Vereinigung deutscher bildender Künstler Mährens und Schlesiens: „Scholle“ – dějiny spolku německomoravských výtvarných umělců v letech 1909–1945, in: Jana Vránová – Lubomír Slavíček (ed.), 90 let Domu umění města Brna. Historie jednoho domu. Architektura, historie, výstavy, kulturní činnost 1910–2000, Brno 2000, pp. 45–63

Petr Spielmann, Oskar Spielmann v Alžíru: Několik myšlenek o malíři Oskaru Spielmannovi v Alžíru na základě jeho korespondence se svým starším bratrem Pavlem, mým otcem, in: Anna Habánová – Ivo Habán (eds.), Na cestách: impulzy zahraničních kulturních prostředí v tvorbě německy hovořících umělců a umělkyň z Čech, Moravy a Slezska / Auf Reisen: internationale Kulturimpulse im Schaffen deutschsprachiger Künstler und Künstlerinnen aus Böhmen, Mähren und Schlesien, Liberec 2015, pp. 64–76

Archival Sources

Petr Spielmann, Archive, the artist’s estate

Anonym, Oskar Spielmann „Lachende Maurin“, Tagesbote 86, 1936, no. 506, 3. 11., p. 3

E. Dostál, Moravské noviny, 1936, 7. 11., newspaper clipping in the estate of OS, Petr Spielmann Archiv

[Dr. Kopa], Čtyři soubory v Künstlerhause, Moravské Slovo, 1936, 6. 11., newspaper clipping in the estate of OS, Petr Spielmann Archiv