Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

The annual exhibition of the Fine Arts Association was opened to visitors on Easter Sunday, April 1879, in the Žofín Palace, by then an established exhibition venue. That year, the Prague showcase featured several women artists, including the young Helena Emingerová, who debuted there and who later became a sought-after painter.

Art critics were most impressed by the history paintings in the exhibition, especially Václav Brožík’s monumental work, The Envoys of Ladislaus Pohrobek, King of Bohemia and Hungary, at the Court of Charles VII, King of France, 1457. Brožík received an award for this painting at the Paris Salon in 1878, and the annual exhibition gave the Prague audience an opportunity to see if the painting lived up to its reputation. Brožík thus presented himself to his nation as a mature artist with a decisive and extraordinary talent. In her review, critic Renata Tyršová emphasized not only Brožík’s precise painterly execution, but also his patriotism, which led him to conclude his studies in Paris with a theme interconnecting Bohemian and French history. That same year, Brožík presented the painting at an international exhibition in Munich for the first time. In 1882, the painting was chosen as the motif for the Fine Arts Association's membership premium. Another history painter represented at the 1879 annual show, Jan (Hanuš) Knöchel, exhibited his painting On the Sea Shore, which depicts a young man kneeling at the foot of a rocky cliff with his head in the lap of a woman sitting on a rock. Knöchel was staying in Munich at the time, so this work shows the strong influence of Gabriel Max. [Weitenweber 1879a]

Yet another history painting, Karel Javůrek’s Death of Henry, Duke of Rohan, was added to the show later. This work was commissioned by Kamil of Rohan, for whom Javůrek worked as a restorer of paintings from the family collection, together with his professor, Christian Ruben [Weitenweber 1879b].

In addition to monumental history paintings, the exhibition included landscapes and genre paintings. Two of the genre paintings – Girls from the Village of Nemi near Rome and Christian Exercises – came from Fedor Bronnikov, a Russian-born painter living in Italy. Both paintings were considered high-quality examples of the genre. Two other Russian painters, Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky and Fedor Petrovich Chumakov, were represented by marinas and female portraits, respectively. [Weitenweber 1879b] There were also almost two dozen works by other Slavic artists, mostly from the Russian empire.

According to critics in the press, Michael Haubtmann stood out among the landscape painters in the exhibition. He exhibited three of his paintings: At the Bay of Baiae, Coast at Chiavari, and On the Island of Capri, which was considered the most successful of them. [Weitenweber 1879a] Critics paid special attention to the women painters who showcased their landscape paintings. Weitenweber observed that some of these artists could "without question not only stand confidently alongside any male painter but indeed surpass many of them" [Weitenweber 1879a]. Notable among these were Fanny Assenbaum, Tina Blau, and Charlotte Weyrother-Piepenhagen. Marie Kirschner, a regular contributor to the annual shows, earned recognition as a "brilliant" artist whose versatility spanned still life, animal subjects, and landscape painting. [Weitenweber 1879a] The critic Renata Tyršová provided a comprehensive analysis of these women's contributions in her review for Ženské listy (Women's Letters) [Tyršová 1879].

This exhibition marked the Prague debut of Helena Emingerová, a promising young painter and printmaker who would later become a highly sought-after portrait artist among the aristocracy and bourgeoisie. Critics mostly praised her work, acknowledging her as one of the most talented artists of the emerging generation. Emingerová had just graduated from the School of Applied Arts under Emil Reynier's tutelage, after receiving private instruction in the studio of Karel Javůrek (who also participated in this exhibition). Remarkably, this recognition came before she had an opportunity to study abroad.

Czech sculpture found singular representation in Josef Mauder's contributions: a bust of the painter Roubalík, a portrait medallion, and a sketch titled Eloah, inspired by Jaroslav Vrchlický's poem of the same name [Weitenweber 1879b].

Regrettably, the exhibition attracted fewer submissions than in previous years, as leading international and domestic artists were preparing for the Paris Salon and Munich's international exhibition [Weitenweber 1879a]. The economic turmoil of the 1870s, precipitated by the Vienna stock exchange crash of 1873, cast a long shadow over the art market and exhibition activities. Sales of artworks at annual exhibitions declined by more than a third through 1885. This period also witnessed a generational transition in which emerging young artists had not yet matured sufficiently to assume leadership roles, leaving Czech art overshadowed by foreign participants whose established reputations often eclipsed local talent [Filip – Musil 2021].

Kamila Červinková

Works Cited

Filip – Musil 2021: Aleš Filip – Roman Musil, Epocha salonů. České salonní umění a mezinárodní výstavní scéna 1870-1914, Plzeň 2021, pp. 220–224

Tyršová 1879: Renata Tyršová, Z výstavy Žofínské, Ženské listy VII, 1879, no. 6, 1.6., pp. 85–91

Weitenweber 1879a: Vil. [Vilém] Weitenweber, Umělecká výstava I., Světozor XIII, 1879, no. 17, 24. 4., pp. 198–199

Weitenweber 1879b: Vil. [Vilém] Weitenweber, Umělecká výstava II., Světozor, XIII, 1879, no. 18, 2.5., pp. 210–211

Výtvarné umění, Světozor XIII, 1879, no. 20, 15.5., p. 239

Pražská kronika, Čech XI, 1879, no. 85, 12.4., p. 3

Pražská kronika, Čech XI, 1879, no. 87, 16.4., p. 3

Pražská kronika, Čech XI, 1879, no. 115, 21.5., p. 2

Zprávy pražského venkova, Posel z Prahy XI, 1879, no. 89, 15.4., p. 1