Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

Since its opening, Ruch Gallery received praise for its central location in the garden wing of the Slavie insurance bank building on Senovážné Square and its spatial arrangement that fully met the requirements of a modern art exhibition. The space consisted of three rooms – the main exhibition hall, a small room to the left of the entrance, and a “cabinet” on the opposite side. Skylights illuminated the rooms with pleasantly diffused light. This layout allowed the gallery owner to organize a few exhibitions at once. At the beginning of December 1889, the gallery launched its exhibition activity with Julius Payer’s sensational painting The Gulf of Death. Several days later, a sales exhibition of the latest works by Karl Liebscher opened in the cabinet, sometimes referred to as the annex or the small hall. 

The collection exhibited in the "annex" consisted of 43 items, mostly oil paintings, sometimes accompanied by a few atmospheric pastels. Although focused on landscapes, the exhibition offered an array of subjects, such as river vistas, Czech castles, snowy nature, and moody evening landscapes. The critic Vilém Weitenweber described the show as follows: “[Its] layout in and of itself is quite appealing. Right beside two tiny boats 'near Roudnice' and the humble path among crumbling walls “on the outskirts of Smíchov,” we encounter vistas from all around our Czech homeland...” [V. W. 1887]. The exhibition had no catalogue, likely because it took place in the gallery’s smallest room. However, the magazine Ruch published a text by the critic Karel Boromejský Mádl, which can be considered a catalogue of sorts – in addition to the review of the show, it included a list of all exhibited artworks. 

In their texts, most critics primarily focused on the technical progress Karel Liebscher achieved over the last two years. They compared his latest works to those presented in 1885 in Rudolfinum, where Liebscher and his brother Adolf had a retrospective organized by Krasoumná jednota (Fine Art Association). Because of Rudolfinum’s extensive show space, this show included 127 landscapes, more than three times the number presented in Ruch. In 1885, Rudolfinum’s ground-floor exhibition space contained both earlier and later artworks by Liebscher, including many studies and sketches the painter had made in Bohemia and abroad. Some paintings were for sale, with smaller items, sketches, and copies ranging from 30 guldens to large oil paintings for 900 guldens. With few exceptions, his works at the 1885 exhibition received somewhat negative reviews. K. B. Mádl was particularly critical, characterizing Liebscher as a mere decent illustrator because, as such, he did not need to master the use of colours and painting techniques. Two years later, the exhibition at Galerie Ruch made Mádl reevaluate. In his review for the Ruch magazine, he wrote: “The standard... if it seemed strict and harsh back then, was justified by motives (which) are no longer relevant for this exhibition” [Mádl 1887, p. 46]. Despite the prevailing positive response to Liebscher’s work, some art critics commented negatively on the foreground of the exhibited landscapes. In most cases, they found them empty compared to the central plane and background and lacking in subject and colour. 

Although the gallery’s opening hours were 9 am to 4 pm, the small hall with Liebscher’s landscapes was only open from 10 am to 3 pm, two hours less than the main attraction, The Gulf of Death by Julius Payer. Because both exhibitions took place simultaneously and the gallery charged 30 kreutzers for The Gulf of Death, there was no need to pay an extra fee for the Liebscher exhibition. Neither the timing nor the apparent absence of an entrance fee was random. Alois Wiesner chose the Christmas time for commercial reasons: visitors who primarily came to see Payer’s Gulf of Death could later head to the smaller hall to view Liebscher’s landscapes and perhaps buy one of them as a Christmas present. This business strategy worked, as evidenced by a brief note in the daily Národní listy from December 1886: “The show... is enjoying a large attendance and is so popular with the public that several of the exhibited paintings have already sold.” [Anonymous author 1886] As buyers gradually took paintings from the exhibition, new artworks were installed there. This was advertised in the press by occasional brief notes encouraging the viewers to repeat their visit to the gallery. 

The exhibition of Liebscher's works ended on January 16, 1887, the same day as The Gulf of Death. The gallery was then closed for a few days in preparation for the retrospective of Hanuš Schwaiger, which began on January 23.

Alois Wiesner started his business as a private gallery owner in the mid-1880s, which allowed him to build on the success of his predecessor Mikoláš Lehmann, a gallerist whose art salon had operated on Ferdinandova Street in Prague since the early 1970s. Wiesner’s business strategies partly reflect the best practices employed in Lehmann’s salon, such as the so-called Christmas exhibitions or presentations of paintings with sensational topics. According to the press, Ruch Gallery managed to attract the general public’s attention in the first months of its existence, and it appeared on track to become established as another successful private gallery in Prague. As it turned out, the proven strategies did not help Wiesner to sustain the gallery; it only remained open for two years. 

Lucie Česká

Works Cited

Anonymous author 1886: Anonymous author, Výstava obrazů Karla Liebschera, Národní listy XXVI, 1886, no. 353, 22. 12., p. 2

Mádl 1887: Karel B. Mádl, Výstava Karla Liebschera, Ruch IX, 1887, no. 3, 25. 1., pp. 46–47

V. W. 1887: V. W. [Vilém Weitenweber], Umělecká výstava Karla Liebschera, Zlatá Praha IV, 1886–1887, no. 5, 31. 12, p. 79

Further Reading

 Ondřej Chrobák, „Ruch“ ve výtvarném umění v Praze 80. letech 19. století (thesis), Praha 2002

Anonymous author, Chvalně známý český krajinář, Zlatá Praha III, 1886, no. 51, 3. 12., p. 816

Anonymous author, Výstava obrazů českého malíře Karla Liebschera, Národní listy XXVI, 1886, no. 334, 3. 12., p. 2

Anonymous author, Pan Alois Wiesner, Zlatá Praha III, 1885–1886, no. 52, 10. 12., p. 832

Anonymous author, Galerie „Ruch“, Národní listy XXVI, 1886, no. 350, 19. 12., p. 2

Anonymous author, Výstava obrazů Karla Liebschera, Národní listy XXVI, 1886, no. 353, 22. 12., p. 2

Anonymous author, Výstava, Zlatá Praha IV, 1886–1887, no. 4, 27. 12., p. 64 

Anonymous author, Výstava nejnovějších děl, Zlatá Praha IV, 1886–1887, no. 7, 9. 1., p. 111

Anonymous author, Galerie „Ruch“, Národní listy XXVII, 1887, no. 15, 16. 1., p. 10

Uk., Kostelík v Libotejnici na Labi, Ruch IX, 1887, no. 7, 5. 3., p. 112