Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

The exhibition of Georg Kars at the Hugo Feigl Gallery in 1934 set the stage for a major retrospective of Kars’s work between 1906 and 1936. The latter was held under the patronage of President Edvard Beneš, and its opening ceremony on January 9, 1937, began with a speech by Jaromír Pečírka. On the same day, the gallery also opened an exhibition of Emil Filla, who presented his hitherto unknown works. Both artists had been working on the preparations for several months [Čapek 1937]. The Kars retrospective included 129 oil paintings and 73 drawings, a significant part of which were borrowed from private collections. The catalogue shows that the organizers aimed at a comprehensive presentation of Kars’s work: the introduction consisted of a selection of translated texts by various art critics of the interwar period, originally published in German and French periodicals. The earliest of these texts, Maurice Raynal’s 1923 article from Der Cicerone, is followed by an introduction from an exhibition catalogue in the Berthe Weill Gallery (1928), an excerpt from texts by Nino Frank and Jacques Geunn in L`art vivant (1929 and 1934), an extensive article by Florent Fels from the catalogue of Kars’s solo exhibition in 1930, characterization of Kars’s artistic personality by Suzanne Valadon  (1939), an excerpt from the preface to the catalogue of the group exhibition at the Moos Gallery in Geneva (1932) by Waldemar George, part of a text by Václav Nebeský from the forthcoming book L`art moderne tchécoslovaque, and a selection of texts published in 1936 by Max Jacob and Jacques de Laprade. Rather than a mere collection of critical reviews, these diverse texts are a colourful mosaic of shared interest in Kars’s work and respect for his artistic expression. The catalogue was meant to establish Georg Kars in the European art world as a representative of the Paris School, as Jaromír Pečírka stated in his opening speech [Pečírka 1937] and F. V. Mokrý wrote in his review for Venkov [Mokrý 1937].

President Edvard Beneš visited the exhibition on January 30, adding to its prestige. Beneš showed keen interest in Kars’s work, which was evidenced by original photographs from the exhibition. These photographs are missing, although a reproduction of one of them appeared in Podřipský kraj [Vendl 1937]. Reviews in all prominent periodicals highlighted the exhibition’s importance for the presentation of Kars’s oeuvre. Josef Čapek saw it as a “celebration of senses, bright moments,” defining Kars’s work as a “delicious painting,” but not one that “would satisfy a raw or desperate hunger; it is too subtle and refined for that.” In his text for Polední list, Jarmil Krecar described Kars’s work as “tinged with a sensual Oriental reverie and a self-absorbed intoxication with radiant colour,” but he most appreciated Kars as a “painter of woman, of her nakedness and the rhythm contained in it, evolving from it, emerging from a play of lines, or psychically concentrated in her face” [Krecar 1937]. František Viktor Mokrý summarized Kars’s life and work by writing that it was “a show in itself, alive and brimming with fierce and passionate observation” [Mokrý 1937]. The most extensive review appeared in the daily newspaper Deutsche Zeitung Bohemia. The reviewer, August Ströbel, admired the painterly beauty of the works, the choice of colours, and the harmony of the lines, expressing great respect for Kars. Other reviewers mostly shared Ströbel’s appreciation of Kars and the show. In the Czech environment, Kars’s artistic expression seemed innovative and fresh, and it evoked emotions. As a whole, the exhibition showed the artist’s evolution from Post-Impressionism via the Cubist experiments to his characteristically voluminous, smoothly gradated painting, characterized by dense layers of muted tones. Female nudes were by far the most represented theme in the exhibition.

A short report in Lidové noviny from the end of February informs us that Kars “sold 24 of his paintings from the exhibition at Mánes. This is one of the most substantial financial successes ever documented at a Prague exhibition.” [Anonymous author 1937] 

The Retrospective of Georg Kars (1906–1936) then moved to Brno, albeit on a significantly smaller scale. It was held on the premises of the Group of Visual Artists from March 6 to March 23, 1937. According to the catalogue, which was much simpler than the Prague version, seventy-three selected paintings were exhibited in Brno.

Milan Šorm – Leona Zítová

Works Cited

Anonymous author 1937: Anonymous author, Prodej obrazů: Malíř Georges Kars, Lidové noviny VL, 1937, no. 98 (afternoon edition), 23. 2., p. 2

Čapek 1937: jč [Josef Čapek], Neznámý Emil Filla, Lidové noviny VL, 1937, no. 45 (morning edition), 26. 1., p. 9

Krecar 1937: Kr. [Jarmil Krecar], Karsova výstava, Polední list XI, 1937, no. 9,  9. 1., p. 2

Mokrý 1937: fvm [František V. Mokrý], Malíř Jiří Kars, Venkov XXXII, 1937, no. 8, 9. 1., p. 7

Pečírka 1937a: J. [Jaromír] Pečírka, George Kars, Prager Presse XVII, 1937, 12. 1., no. 12, p. 6

Pečírka 1937b: Úryvek z proslovu Dr. J. Pečírky při zahájení výstavy G. Karse v Mánesu, Volné směry XXXIII, 1937, pp. 203–204

Vendl 1937: V. K. Vendl, Malíř Jiří Kars, Podřipský kraj III, 1937, no. 3, pp. 99–102, no. 4, pp. 126–139

Anonymous author, Zwei Ausstellungen im „Mánes“, Prager Presse XVII, 1937, 6. 1., no. 6, p. 8

Anonymous author, Malíř Georges Kars, Lidové noviny VL, 1937, no. 98 (afternoon edition), 23. 2., p. 2