Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

At the end of 1929, the new, more modest Krasoumná jednota space in the tenement house at 12 Pštrossova Street housed the first exhibition of Prager Secession. The show presented the work of eighteen mostly younger Prague German-speaking artists who built on their year-long collaboration as the Junge Kunst. They founded their own association, following the example of the Berliner Secession. The group sought not only to bring artists together and organize group exhibitions but also to create a stable, vibrant platform for contemporary German-Czech art. To achieve this, the artists reached out and connected to the wider circle of German-speaking cultural, social and financial elites with ties to Berlin. Prager Secession was democratic, international and liberal; almost half of its members and supporters were women. The quality of artistic outputs was guaranteed by a jury. Although primarily apolitical, Prager Secession took up a pro-Czechoslovak position, manifesting openness and readiness to operate beyond the framework of an ethnically-defined cultural space. “We seek not only competition but also togetherness with our Czech colleagues,” they wrote in the sixteen-page introductory text to the exhibition catalogue.

The catalogue came out in both German and Czech and contained no reproductions, only a numbered list of artworks with prices attached. There was also a list of founding members (18) with addresses, corresponding members (5), founders (9) and contributing members (76) including their places of residence. The introductory text defined the character and goals of the new association. The Secession rejected conservative art and saw itself as the artistic vanguard that these young Prague artists aspired to be within the German-speaking art scene in Czechoslovakia: “Only now has Prague joined the ranks of the great cities: for it has its own ‘Secession’."  

The guest artists participating in the Prager Secession show came from Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Graz, Dresden and Paris, a reflection of the association’s international character. One of the members, Alois R. Watznauer, came from as far away as Sao Paulo. A passage in the catalogue text comments on the show’s exclusive character: the jury had assembled the exhibition from the works offered by both members and guests and it was forced to “choose from a large number of both good and bad artworks.” The exhibition represented 36 artists showcasing a total of 131 artworks. Most of them were oil paintings (60), watercolours, drawings and sculptures (19). All the 16 lithographs at the exhibition were by Alfred Kubin. In terms of style, moderate Expressionism was the most prevalent and there were also several artworks with elements of Magic Realism and New Objectivity. On Sundays, the exhibition was accompanied by recorded classical music with Rigoletto on December 8 and Beethoven one week later.

The guest participants included Karl Hofer, Moriz Melzer, Wilhelm Thöny and Georg Kars, all well-established artists of European renown. Willi Nowak, who organized the entire venture along with Friedrich Feigl and Maxim Kopf, joined the ranks of the Prager Secession as a member. It was thanks to their contacts that the Secession was able to attract international guests who added prestige to the exhibition. Among the local guests were other ambitious Czechoslovak artists who later became members or regular participants of Prager Secession’s shows – Viktor Planckh from Opava, Richard Fleissner from Jablonec, and Wilhelm Klier and Josef Dobrowsky, both Vienna-based painters from Karlovy Vary. There were also numerous women artists, such as Charlotte Radnitz, Mary Duras, Gabriele Waldert and Grete Passer, who had already exhibited with Junge Kunst, and guest artists Mia Münzer and Inge Thiele-Peschka. Sculptures by Gabriele Waldert and Mary Duras were the most expensive artworks at the exhibition (CZK 30,000 and 35,000 respectively). The highest-priced paintings came from Maxim Kopf, Georg Kars and Willi Nowak (CZK 10,000), followed closely by paintings by Richard Schrötter and Wilhelm Thöny.

Prager Secession shows became must-see cultural events, covered by all Czech and German media. Although the economic crisis was looming, the first exhibition was received with optimism about the situation and perspectives of modern art. It also raised hopes of mutual tolerance and even collaboration between Czech, German and Jewish circles in the Prague cultural world and beyond. The show attracted justified attention because of its high quality, the presence of international artists and also because it was supported by prominent figures – actors behind the scenes included the masonic lodge Adoniram zur Weltkugel. This constellation brought results: the young artists gained more commissions and clients and the participation in the Prager Secession shows became a matter of prestige rather than merely a matter of ethnicity and local patriotism as was the case with regional exhibitions. But some reviewers voiced their criticism, pointing to the moderate and in fact utilitarian character of the Secession which, despite having an artistic jury, necessarily moved toward a stylistic vagueness, gradual repetition and even stagnation caused by its broad membership base: “The Secession’s attack is not strong enough and its youth is not young enough” [Pečírka 1929]. However, this trend only gained sway at Secession’s later exhibitions. At the end of the 1930s, the association managed to maintain its prestige thanks to its independent, openly anti-fascist and liberal character, and its support and inclusion of artists emigrating from Germany.

Beginning with its first exhibition, the Prager Secession became a showcase for modernist German-Czech artists in Czechoslovakia and its existence changed the constellation of art groups in the Czechoslovak art world. The German section of the state-run Modern Gallery began to regularly purchase artworks from Prager Secession’s annual exhibitions at Krasoumná jednota (there were eight of them over the course of the association’s existence), in part because the works were of a high quality, but also because of the personal ties between the Secession and the Modern Gallery’s advisory board.

Ivo Habán

Works Cited

Pečírka 1929: Jaromír Pečírka, Výstavy, Rozpravy Aventina V, 1929, no. 13–14, 19. 12., p. 166

Further Reading

Ivo Habán, Prager Secession. Německý sen v multikulturní Praze, in: Anna Habánová (ed.), Mladí lvi v kleci. Umělecké skupiny německy hovořících výtvarníků z Čech, Moravy a Slezska v meziválečném období, Liberec – Řevnice 2013, pp. 118–151

Anna Janištinová, Praha a Čechy, in: Hana Rousová (ed.) Mezery v historii, Polemický duch Střední Evropy – Němci, Židé, Češi (exh. cat.), Praha 1994, pp. 44–53

Archival Sources

Archive of the National Gallery Prague, fonds Moderní galerie, nákupy děl [Modern Gallery, acquisitions]; fonds Krasoumná jednota, výstřižková služba [newspaper clippings]; fonds Willi Nowak, korespondence [correspondence]

Prague City Archives, SK IX/0672, file no. 350

Anonymous author, I. Ausstellung der Prager Sezession, Deutsche Zeitung Bohemia CII, 1929, no. 272, 21. 11., p. 7

Anonymous author, Ausstellung der „Prager Sezession“ im Kunstverein, Prager Tagblatt LIV, 1929, 7. 12., p. 8

Anonymous author, Ausstellung der „Prager Secession“, Prager Tagblatt LIV, 1929, no. 298, 21. 12., p. 8

Anonymous author, Ausstellung der Prager Sezession im Kunstverein für Böhmen, November 1929, Zeit im Bild, 1929, 28. 11.

Anonymous author, Ausstellung Prager Sezession im Kunstverein, Deutsche Zeitung Bohemia CII, 1929, no. 283, 4. 12., p. 6

Anonymous author, Ausstellung der Prager Sezession im Kunstverein, Deutsche Zeitung Bohemia CII, 1929, no. 289, 11. 12., p. 6; no. 295, 18. 12., p. 6; no. 301, 25. 12., p. 13

Anonymous author, bez nadpisu, Neue Freie Presse (Wien), 1930, 21. 1.

Anonymous author, Co se líbí obecenstvu, České slovo (Praha), 1929, 1. 12.

Anonymous author, Die Ausstellung der „Prager Secession“, Prager Tagblatt LIV, 1929, no. 301, 25. 12., p. 11 (31)

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Anonymous author, Z Krasoumné jednoty. (Výstava „Prager Secession“), Čech (Praha), 1929, 21. 12.

Anonymous author, Z tvorby našich Němců, Světozor (Praha), 1929, 19. 12.

Dr. E. F., Prager Secession. Erste Ausstellung im Kunstverein, Sozialdemokrat (Prag), 1929, 26. 11.

P., Prager Sezession, Sudetendeutsche Tegeszeitung (Prag), 1929, 6. 12.

pt., Hudba před obrazy, Národní osvobození (Praha), 1929, 14. 12.

Dr. O. S. [Oskar Schürer], Die „Prager Sezession“ im Kunstverein, Montagsblatt (Praha), 1929, 25. 11.

B. S. [Bohumil Stanislav] Urban, Prager Secession. K současné výstavě v Krasoumné Jednotě, Cesta (Praha), 1929, 15. 12.