Výstava drobného církevního umění | Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820

Commentary

The exhibition, accompanied by a German-language catalogue entitled Kunstgewerbliche Objekte der Ausstellung kirchlicher Kleinkunst with 99 large-format pictures, was one of the first events organized by the director of the Industrial Museum in Brno, August Prokop (active 1883-1893), in the newly opened museum building. In his words, the Exhibition of Ecclesiastical Art Objects was intended to contribute to the research and documentation of significant archaeological and art historical objects from the crown land of Moravia. The museum’s management sought to make “the outstanding artifacts of the Ecclesiastical Exhibition [...] accessible through images and thus known to a wider circle of archaeologists, architects, and art lovers, as well as to museums, industrial design schools, and factory managers.” [Prokop 1884–1885] Eighty exhibitors participated in the show featuring more than six hundred items [anonymous author 1884-1885, no. 10], which continued to arrive even after the opening. The participants included church institutions (Christian Academy), individuals (Cardinal Friedrich Fürstenberg of Olomouc, Archbishop Friedrich Schwarzenberg of Prague and Bishop Franz Bauer of Brno), contemporary artists (architects Antonín Barvitius, Heinrich Ferstel, Josef Mocker, August Prokop, Friedrich Schmidt, Germano Wanderlay, Friedrich Wachsmann, painter Emil Pirchan), nobility, including the royal house (Prince Johann Liechtenstein, Crown Princess Stephanie), merchants and tradesmen (F. Adler, Carl Giani, the goldsmith Josef Wenzel Rummel Jr.), companies (Krickel & Schweiger, Carl Seyling heirs, the Innsbruck stained glass factory) and schools (the goldsmithing vocational school in Prague). The Brno photographer Josef Kunzfeld made photographic documentation of 99 objects from the exhibition. His photographs became the basis for the collotype reproductions printed by the Dresden firm Römmler und Jonas and, together with August Prokop’s text, formed an exhibition catalogue that was exceptionally elaborate for its time. The text of the catalogue, a separate booklet with descriptions and evaluations of some of the exhibits was compiled from texts published in the museum magazine Mitteilungen des Mährischen Gewerbemuseums in Brünn.

The selection of artifacts reflects the strategy of applied arts museums at that time – to document and present significant historical objects and contemporary art using the comparative method. In the preparation phase, the museum sent letters in both Czech and German, preserved as a draft dated May 29, 1884 [Archive of the MG]. Historical objects –such as monstrances, mass utensils and liturgical textiles, books, ivory objects and manuscripts, old prints, and the Rzih collection of medieval masons’ marks – were supplemented by modern designs based on old models (Albrecht Dürer, Hans Vischer). The third group of exhibits consisted of contemporary works represented by architectural designs and liturgical objects (Josef Mocker, Antonín Barvitius, Heinrich Ferstel, Friedrich Schmidt, Friedrich Wachsmann). The Vienna Museum of Applied Arts (k.k. Museum für Kunst und Industrie) lent a significant portion of artifacts to the exhibition, including 219 photographs, 124 engravings and woodcuts, and 60 color prints. Visitors could view an additional two hundred objects in the accompanying lecture series. Other Moravian museums, such as the Franz Josef Museum of Applied Arts in Olomouc and the Franzensmuseum in Brno, also lent artworks to the exhibition. The Silesian Museum in Opava provided artifacts that were not included in the catalogue’s image section. The Museum of Applied Arts in Liberec (Nordböhmisches Gewerbe-Museum) could not send artworks, but participated in the accompanying program, which included lectures by W. D. Vivier, the Liberec curator and editor of the Mittheilungen des Nordböhmischen Gewerbemuseums, and Anton Lehner, editor of the Method magazine. The introductory lecture, delivered in German and entitled The Development and Differences of Architectural Styles with a Focus on Church Art, was probably given by August Prokop. [anonymous author 1884c]

Because the exhibition was so large and the artifacts on display were constantly changing, none of the local experts attempted to write a comprehensive review. August Prokop’s text for the journal of the Central Heritage Committee was just a stylistically modified version of his article published in the museum’s journal Mittheilungen des Mährischen Gewerbemuseums in Brünn. The only time the exhibition made the front pages of newspapers was in connection with its political context – the lecture series included a lecture in Czech on Velehrad, a pilgrimage site with a rich Slavic history [anonymous author 1884a]. The daily Tagesbote perceived the Czech lectures as a national and professional threat to the institution: “… if necessary, students and volunteers are called in to fill the Czech lectures, while only those who are seriously interested in industrial design come to the German lectures.” [Anonymous author 1884b]

The exhibition also showcased examples of contemporary historicism, namely book covers by Josef Mocker, which the Prague Christian Academy sent as part of a series of items created for the birthday of Archbishop Friedrich Schwarzenberg. [Brožová 2001, p. 231] Petra Trnková recently referred to the Exhibition of Ecclesiastical Art Objects in connection with the work of the Brno photographer Josef Kunzfeld. She also published several views of the exhibition as examples of the museum’s exhibition practice in the 1880s. [Trnková 2011, exh. cat. 47]

The significance of this exhibition lies in the fact that it was the first to document historical art objects in Moravia, such as the staff of the Rajhrad abbots, ca. 1330; Boskovice Bible, ca. 1415; Monstrance of Březník, 1522; and the tray and mass vessels from St. Thomas Monastery, 18th century. The Mährisches Gewerbemuseum in Brno produced one of the first exhibition catalogues, combining historical artifacts with large-format documentation of local applied arts. The catalogue is also the first to mention the curators: the museum curator Carl Schirek and the secretary J. Jandera [Die Ausstellung 1885].

Taťána Petrasová

Works Cited

Prokop 1884–1885: August Prokop, Vorwort, in: Kunstgewerbliche Objekte der Ausstellung kirchlicher Kleinkunst in Mährischen Gewerbe-Museum, exh. cat. Mährisches Gewerbe-Museum, Brünn 1884–1885

Anonymous author 1884a: Anonymous author, Unser Gewerbe-Museum, Tagesbote aus Mähren und Schlesien XXXIV, 1884, Beilage zur Nr. 252, 31. 10., p. 1

Anonymous author 1884b: Anonymous author, Unser Gewerbe-Museum, Tagesbote aus Mähren und Schlesien XXXIV, 1884, Nr. 256, 6. 11., p. 1

Anonymous author 1884c: Anonymous author, (Mährisches Gewerbe-Museum.), Tagesbote aus Mähren und Schlesien XXXIV, 1884, Nr. 238, 15. 10., p. 3

Anonymous author 1884–1885: Anonymous author, Kirchliche Ausstellung im mähr. Gewerbemuseum, Mitteilungen des Mährischen Gewerbemuseums in Brünn II, 1884, no. 8, 24. 10.; no. 10, 7. 11; no. 14. 11.; no. 12, 21.11; no. 13, 28. 11.; no. 14, 5. 12.; no. 15, 12. 12.; no. 16, 19. 12.; no. 17, 29. 12.; II, 1885, no. 18, 2. 1.; no. 19, 9. 1.; no. 20, 16. 1.; no. 21, 23. 1.; no. 22, 30. 1.; no. 27, 6. 3.; no. 28, 13. 3.; no. 29, 20. 3.; no. 30, 27. 3. (advertisement); no. 32, 10. 4. (advertisement); no. 34, 24. 4.

Die Ausstellung 1885: Die kirchliche Ausstellung im mähr. Gewerbemuseum, eröfffnet am 12. October 1884, separate booklet, [Brünn 1885], pp. 1–16

Trnková 2011: Petra Trnková, Josef Kunzfeld. Fotograf a muzeum / fotograf a město (exh. cat., Moravská galerie v Brně), Brno 2011, pp. 13–14

Archival Sources

Archive of the Moravian Gallery in Brno (Archiv Moravské galerie v Brně, fonds Moravské uměleckoprůmyslové muzeum Brno, file 19–24, unprocessed photo library, file no. 100)