Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

The artist group known under the name Group 42 (Skupina 42) was established in 1942, although most of its members knew one another before this date. In addition to founding members František Gross, Jan Smetana, Kamil Lhoták, František Hudeček, Jan Kotík, photographer Miroslav Hák, sculptors Ladislav Zívr, and teorists Jiří Kotalík and Jindřich Chalupecký, the group gradually grew to include poets Jiří Kolář, Ivan Blatný, Jan Hanč, Jiřina Hauková, Josef Kainar and painters Karel Souček and Bohumír Matal. However, after two successful exhibitions in 1943, the first in Nová Paka and the second in Prague, the group was forced to discontinue its public activities. Authorities placed some of the artists on the list of “degenerate artists” and banned their artistic projects [Pech 2011, pp. 109–111], others were sent to forced labour.

Soon after the occupation ended, Jiří Kotalík became the group's chief theorist and organizer. The group resumed activity and prepared its first postwar exhibition, which was opened at the end of August 1945 in Jaroslav Poš's private gallery at the U Řečických House in Prague. This exhibition was meant to publicly announce that the group was active again and capable of holding a show.

This first postwar exhibition included František Gross, František Hudeček, Jan Kotík, Kamil Lhoták, Jan Smetana and Karel Souček and showcased drawings and prints only. The group's poets, Josef Kainar, Ivan Blatný and Jiří Kolář, recited their poems at the opening. František Hudeček prepared the largest set of drawings and prints (forty in total), and other artists brought around thirty items. Karel Souček presented twenty drawings and prints. In line with the group's program, all of the artists exhibited works from 1943-1944 depicting predominantly urban environments, people and machines.

Although the group members only exhibited drawings and prints, they managed to draw the attention of a few art critics. Art historian Miroslav Míčko took note of the artists’ themes, appreciating the “pioneering effort with which they hurl themselves at reality, yet not overly stylized or poeticized, in an attempt to capture everyday, practical objects for our inner lives and make our most banal day somewhat more habitable” [Míčko 1945, p. 2]. Míčko sees the group members as among the best of the artists who reached maturity during the war. In his view, all of them contributed to the rebirth of Czech graphic art.

Journalist Jaroslav Pecháček acknowledged František Hudeček and Kamil Lhoták, who he believed were the group's most original artists, endowed with creative imagination. Jan Kotík, on the other hand, received a rather low rating because, says Pecháček, he “does not develop his personal style and instead exaggerates borrowed elements, giving his works a forced, insincere affectedness” [Pecháček 1945, p. 3].

The art critic Stanislav Talaváňa also took note of the exhibition. In his two-part review, he emphasizes the artists' common theme, that is, an interest in the present world and urban life without unnecessary sentimentality. He praised the important turn on the road to modern art, on which one cannot “run away from the present, rather, one must find inspiration in every small, previously unnoticed thing” [Talaváňa 1945, p. 3]. In Talaváňa's view, the exhibited artworks offered one of the directions that modern art should take. In the case of František Gross, Talaváňa appreciated the painter's shift from machines to humans. Kamil Lhoták earned his praise for his unchanging interest in the stories of people and transportation machines, and František Hudeček for imagination and dreams. Jan Smetana, on the other hand, failed to arouse Talaváňa's interest—the critic saw his drawings as superficial and showy, and his work in general as aimless.

Jindřich Chalupecký, who up until then had had a marginal role, took initiative as a reaction to the exhibition. In his appeal to the group's members, he defined the group’s program, assessed its previous activities and set plans for the future. He regarded Group 42 as an elite, outstanding formation and the only truly modern phenomenon on the Czech scene. In his view, its existence was crucial [Hylmar 2019, pp. 97–100]. 

The exhibition of drawings and prints of Group 42 was moved from the Poš Gallery to Jihlava, where visitors could see it in the Horácké Theatre between September 30 and October 13, 1945. Concurrently with the Jihlava exhibition, František Gross, František Hudeček, Jan Kotík, Kamil Lhoták, Jan Smetana and Karel Souček presented their paintings at the exhibition entitled Konfrontace 2 [Confrontations 2]. This show was organized by the Topič Salon between September 25 and October 14, 1945, and all of the previously mentioned artists enjoyed the extraordinary attention of art critics.

Tomáš Hylmar

Works Cited

Hylmar 2019: Tomáš Hylmar, „Jsme jediní moderní ve svých generacích.“ Úvahy nad činností Skupiny 42 v dopisech Jindřicha Chalupeckého, Umění LXVII, 2019, pp. 96–101

Míčko 1945: Miroslav Míčko, Nová umělecká generace. Výstava Skupiny 1942 v Pošově galerii, Práce I, 1945, p. 4

Pech 2011: Milan Pech, „Zvrhlé umění“ v protektorátu, in: Konec avantgardy? Od mnichovské dohody ke komunistickému převratu (ex. cat.), Prague: Galerie hlavního města Prahy 2011, pp. 99–112

Pecháček 1945: Pchč. [Jaroslav Pecháček], Skupina 1942, Národní osvobození 16, 1945, p. 3

Talaváňa 1945: Stanislav Talaváňa, Výstava Skupiny 1942 [1], Rudé právo XXV, 1945, p. 3

Further Reading

Marie Klimešová, Věci umění, věci doby. Skupina 42 (ex. cat.), Západočeská galerie v Plzni 2011

Jiří Kotalík, Několik poznámek o Skupině 42, Život XX, 1946–1947, č. 4–5, pp. 113–116, 125–126

Eva Petrová, Společenství individualit, in: Eva Petrová (ed.), Skupina 42, Prague 1998, pp. 15–105

Eva Petrová, Skupina 42, in: Zdeněk Pešat – Eva Petrová, Skupina 42. Antologie, Brno 2000, pp. 409–429

Archival Sources

Archive of the National Gallery Prague, fonds Jiří Kotalík (1920–1996), Korespondence a dokumentace, Skupina 42 [Correspondence and Documentation, Group 42], 1942–1994

Archive of the National Gallery Prague, fonds Eva Petrová (1928–2012), Dokumentace, Skupina 42 [Correspondence and Documentation, Group 42], 1942–1998

Vladimír Šolta, Výstava kreseb v Pošově galerii, Mladá fronta I, 1945, no. 103, 7. 9., p. 3