The international photography exhibition in České Budějovice is considered the most significant achievement of the South Bohemian avant-garde [Pomajzlová 2012, p. 230]. It was undoubtedly the crowning achievement of the photographic section of the České Budějovice group Linie (Line), which brought together progressive-minded teachers, musicians, journalists, theater makers, set designers, writers, painters, graphic artists, and photographers in the early 1930s. [Dufek 1981] Linie's avant-garde program, spanning a variety of artistic media, distinguished it from the Association of South Bohemian Artists, which focused primarily on regional and landscape themes. [Tětiva–Pletzer 1984]
The exhibition of modern photography was held in the premises of the new functionalist building of the Institute for Trade Advancement on Husova Street in České Budějovice. In addition to members of Fotolinie, it presented works by members of the affiliated Club of German Photo Amateurs [Cf. Trnková 2008, p. 104], along with the Brno group f5, Jindřich Štyrský, and László Moholy-Nagy. At the same time, the exhibition showcased the results of the Haas company’s 1934 photography competition. Moholy-Nagy's collection was a partial reprise of his exhibition that had been presented a year earlier in Bratislava and Brno [Chatrný–Svobodová 2023, p. 46]. Štyrský exhibited his photographic series, but we can only speculate about the specific images displayed, as well as those from members of f5, Fotolinie, and the German amateurs, since the exhibition catalogue has not yet been found.
The magazine Jihočeské listy (South Bohemian News) published several texts about the exhibition, including an excerpt from the speech given by Linie's chairman Emil Pitter at the opening on Sunday morning, March 15, 1936 [Pitter 1936a]. Pitter highlighted Moholy-Nagy's emphasis on creating original artistic form as opposed to simply capturing objects. A week later, another article by Pitter appeared in Jihočeské listy. In this text, entitled "Abstract Image," the author tries to explain the nature of Moholy-Nagy's works in order to avoid misunderstandings on the part of the visitors: "The viewer will not find still lifes, bouquets, and landscapes in the exhibition. One must free oneself from the comfortable object designation in the exhibition catalogue, one must approach the image as one approaches pure music. Then, without surprise, one notes that the image is marked in the catalogue with a letter indicating the technique, and a number. And into this pure form and colour, one projects one's own impressions and one's own world" [Pitter 1936b].
Contemporary reviews of the exhibition are scarce, with both positive and negative judgments: "A new way of seeing, new technical processing, artistic wit and poetry, and purity of craftsmanship speak of the progressive efforts of the exhibitors, while the overall arrangement shows an effort to present the beautiful, the extraordinary, and the best." [Stráž lidu 1936, p. 3] According to another reviewer, the photographs installed next to Moholy-Nagy's large-format works were "strongly pushed into the background," "did not achieve much success," and were harmed by an "insincere desire for originality." The reviewer also wrote about the presence of "political photomontages" that "lacked wit and more honest elaboration" [Republikán 1936] These were most likely Josef Bartuška's photographic collages, which, with a few exceptions, have not survived. [Čapková 1986, p. 25] Pitter mentions these collages in his account of a trip to Prague, published in the Linie magazine. After visiting Prague's International Photography Exhibition (also held in the spring of 1936), he did not hesitate to compare Bartuška to John Heartfield, writing that "Bartuška's montages run parallel to those of J. Heartfield" [Pitter 1936c, p. 66]. Bartuška was the main driving force behind Fotolinie [Valter 1980, p. 69], and it was to him that László Moholy-Nagy wrote a letter on March 19, 1936, just a few days after the opening, inquiring about the public's reaction to the České Budějovice exhibition. [Civiš 1969, p. 53]
Karel Valter, another member of Fotolinie, retrospectively evaluated the exhibition as the result of Bartuška's cultural policy, and at the same time as an event that was not easy to digest for the local audience: "It was an exhibition that exuded an unusual stream of new stimuli, something unprecedented in České Budějovice and therefore difficult to accept. Even though it was 1936 and Linie had already done a considerable amount of work in promoting contemporary art, the České Budějovice citizens were still shocked when faced with the originals. They could not make sense of a large portion of Moholy-Nagy's exhibits. This was neither photography nor painting. I remember the atmosphere of this exhibition very well. Plates of various types of glossy metals were marked by complex technological processes with lines and areas in the shape of squares and rectangles, representing nothing but themselves. What did this say? The České Budějovice citizens did not or could not understand that they were standing in front of works that reflected a new constructivist epoch, that these were the first shoots of a revolutionary tomorrow." Valter also wrote about Bartuška's efforts to show "new, previously unseen artistic values in the regional city, to present what was being done in the world, what new things were being invented, where the path of modern visual art was leading." [Valter 1980, pp. 70–71]
Hana Buddeus
Works Cited
Civiš 1969: Svatopluk Civiš, Josef Bartuška, Pedagogická fakulta České Budějovice 1969
Čapková 1986: Gabriela Tichá Čapková, Českobudějovická skupina Fotolinie, Revue fotografie XXX, 1986, no. 4, pp. 22–31
Dufek 1981: Antonín Dufek (ed.), Česká fotografie 1918–1938, exh. cat., Brno: Moravská galerie v Brně 1981
Dufek 1988: Antonín Dufek, Světlo / stín / a objekt v české fotografii třicátých let, in: Hana Rousová (ed.), Linie, barva, tvar v českém výtvarném umění 30. let, exh. cat., Praha: GHMP 1988
Chatrný–Svobodová 2023: Jindřich Chatrný – Markéta Svobodová (ed.), František Kalivoda (1913–1971): vize a návraty modernismu, Brno 2023
Pitter 1936a: Emil Pitter, Moholy Nagy, Jihočeské listy XLII, 1936, no. 22, 18. 3., p. 2
Pitter 1936b: ep. [Emil Pitter], Abstraktní obraz, Jihočeské listy XLII, 1936, no. 24, 25. 3., p. 2
Pitter 1936c: Emil Pitter, Bohatý den (Praha 13. 4. 1936), Linie V, 1936, no. 9, April, pp. 65-66
Pomajzlová 2012: Alena Pomajzlová, Rytmy + pohyb + světlo. Impulsy futurismu v českém umění, Řevnice 2012
Republikán 1936: Doslov k fotografickým výstavám, Republikán XVIII, 1936, no. 33, p. 30
Stráž lidu 1936: V. W. X., Výstava fotografického a výtvarného umění, Stráž lidu XVIII, 1936, no. 12, 20. 3., p. 3
Tětiva–Pletzer 1984: Vlastimil Tětiva – Karel Pletzer, Linie. Avantgardní literárně umělecké sdružení, 1930–1938, exh. cat., České Budějovice 1984, n. pag.
Trnková 2008: Petra Trnková, Technický obraz na malířských štaflích, Brno 2008
Valter 1980: Karel Valter, Linie: vzpomínky na českobudějovickou avantgardní uměleckou skupinu a lidi kolem ní, České Budějovice 1980
Further Reading
Jaroslav Anděl, Avantgarda o mnoha médiích: Josef Bartuška a skupina Linie 1931–1939, Praha: Obecní dům v Praze 2004
Jaroslav Anděl, Umění pro všechny smysly. Meziválečná avantgarda v Československu, exh. cat., Praha: NG 1993
Simona Hermann Bérešová, Fotografie medzi dokumentom, umeleckým experimentom a typofoto, in: Jindřich Chatrný – Markéta Svobodová (ed.), František Kalivoda (1913–1971): vize a návraty modernismu, Brno 2023, p. 304
Vladimír Birgus, Česká fotografická avantgarda, exh. cat., Praha: Kant 1999
Gabriela Čapková, Českobudějovická skupina Fotolinie, diplomová práce, FAMU Praha 1984
Zdeněk Stolbenko, Od Linie po Fotos. 30.–60. léta v českobudějovické fotografii, diplomová práce, Praha: FAMU 1998
Markéta Svobodová, František Kalivoda, László Moholy-Nagy and the Left Front in Prague and Brno, Umění LXII, 2014, no. 2, pp. 141–153
Archival Sources
Museum of South Bohemia, fond novějších dějin (fonds of modern history) - K, inv. no. K 6277
Museum of the City of Brno-ODA, fonds František Kalivoda, folio - typography
Anonymous author, Fotografická výstava v Čes. Budějovicích, Národní osvobození, 1936, 20. 3., p. 6
Anonymous author, Skupina „Linie“ v Č. Budějovicích, Jihočeské listy XLII, 1936, no. 21, 14. 3., p. 3
Anonymous author, Skupina „Linie“ v Č. Budějovicích, Ohlas od Nežárky, 1936, 27. 3., p. 6
Anonymous author, Výstava fotolinie, Linie V, 1936, no. 7, March, p. 49
Anonymous author, Výstava fotolinie, Linie V, 1936, no. 8, April, p. 60
Anonymous author, Výstava fotolinie před Prahou, Jihočeské listy XLII, 1936, no. 23, 21. 3., p. 2
Anonymous author, Výstava obrazů a fotografií Moholy Nagyho, Jihočeské listy XLII, 1936, no. 24, 25. 3., p. 2
Jiří Bartuška, výstava fotolinie, Jihočeské listy XLII, 1936, no. 22, 18. 3., p. 1
do., K výstavě fotolinie, Jihočeské listy XLII, 1936, no. 21, 14. 3., p. 2
la., Mezinárodní výstava prací Moholy-Nagyho, Jihočeské listy XLII, 1936, no. 22, 18. 3., p. 2
ep. [Emil Pitter], Abstraktní obraz, Jihočeské listy XLII, 1936, no. 24, 25. 3., p. 2
Emil Pitter, Moholy Nagy, Jihočeské listy XLII, 1936, no. 22, 18. 3., p. 2
Emil Pitter, Moholy-Nagy, výstava obrazů a fotografií, Linie V, 1936, no. 8, April, pp. 59–60
rp., Třetí výstava fotolinie v Českých Budějovicích, Národní listy LXXVI, 1936, no. 79, 20. 3., p. 5
