Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

In 1924, sculptor and architect Zdeněk Pešánek began experimenting with artificial light as an autonomous means of artistic expression. At the same time, he was working on a paper explaining the theoretical foundations and methods of light kineticism, which he saw as the future of fine art. In the interwar period, he was able to realize only a fraction of his pioneering projects and proposals applying light kinetics in art and design. In the spring of 1928, he presented his colour piano and light projection to the public for the first time, and in June 1930, his light-kinetic sculpture was installed on the facade of the Edison transformer station in Jeruzalémská Street in Prague. At the end of the 1920s, Pešánek was planning an exhibition of light-kinetic sculptures and was looking for a publisher for the manuscript of a book entitled Kinetismus, which would introduce the public to his work to date and the new perspectives of visual art in conjunction with modern technology. He proposed a joint exhibition to Jindřich Štyrský and Toyen, among other artists [Zemánek 1996, pp. 125, 280]. Later, he sought membership in the Mánes Fine Arts Association, which would open up new opportunities for him to exhibit and use his experience with lighting technology in exhibition practice. However, Pešánek’s attempts to cooperate more closely with the Prague avant-garde and the influential art association never came to fruition. He remained a solitary artist, receiving most funding for his technically complex and expensive light-kinetic sculptures from the Electrical Company of the City of Prague (EP), a city-run company operating power plants and public transit. This company also substantially contributed to the 1936 exhibition in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Pešánek’s only solo show in this period. It was a unique event in his career – the next opportunity to present his art did not come until 1965 when Dana Vachtová offered him the small space of the Karlovo Náměstí Gallery. However, this exhibition eventually took place almost a year after Pešánek’s death. His absence from most art exhibitions was due to cultural and political circumstances, but it also stemmed from the nature of his light kinetic projects. Rather than creating sculptures for the gallery environment, he made art objects for architecture and designed monumental light shows for public space and general audiences (e. g., light kinetic monuments, fireworks, and light fountains).

In June 1936, several Prague newspapers reported that Zdeněk Pešánek had completed four unique light and kinetic sculptures for the EP to decorate Zenger’s transformer station at Klárov on the centenary of the death of André-Maria Ampère. The first published mention of his work on the sculptures comes from Hana Volavková and dates to 1934: “It is a pity that no exhibitions showed any of his material sculptures, testaments of this sculptor’s creative power and that it was impossible to follow the phases of his development. However, his sketches for light sculptures show that he is a sculptor and, to boot, a sculptor that is technically and artistically ahead of our Mánes avant-garde, imitative as it is in many of its themes and stylistic expressions. It is like this: we complain that we have no young original talents, but they are out there, just outside the official associations.” [Volavková 1934] The set of sculptures entitled One Hundred Years of Electricity alluded to the client's line of business and the purpose of its building. It depicted the three historical milestones in the development of electrical engineering and illustrated the steeply rising output of power stations supplying electricity to the capital. Using metaphorical language, Pešánek depicted Ampère's right-hand grip rule, the principle of the three-phase motor, the transformer principle, and a diagram of the growth of electricity production in Prague between 1898 and 1936. His vertical sculptures, approximately three metres high, feature a sophisticated interplay of different light sources, combinations of unusual materials, and the technique of assemblage. Inside these objects of translucent plastic, coloured light bulbs create light-kinetic events, while neon tubes, electrical components, anthropomorphic fragments, and inscriptions carry the work’s central message. Before the sculptures were mounted on the consoles on the transformer station facade, the Museum of Decorative Arts asked the EP director to lend them to the museum free of charge and cover all the costs associated with their installation and operation.

One Hundred Years of Electricity was open from October 23 to November 15, 1936. Although the light-kinetic sculptures were placed in the same hall as tapestries and fabrics by Marie Teinitzer, showcased in celebration of the 25th anniversary of her textile workshops, these were two separate, unrelated exhibitions. According to the attendance records, 774 persons visited the shows. The luxury textiles created an incongruous but arresting backdrop to Pešánek’s light-kinetic sculptures and let their modernity and uniqueness stand out. Some critics praised the sculptures as remarkable artworks which employ modern technology and dynamic means of expression and thus represent a new potential of visual art. Others refused to recognize them as works of art and accepted them at most as technical artifacts with impressive electric lighting [Kovárna 1936, Štech 1936]. These critics were disturbed by the absence of traditional sculptural tectonics, and the vaguely organic forms of the sculptures’ plastic bodies reminded them of anatomical models. They also criticized the works for their incomprehensibility, and although Pešánek tried to be clear, his works necessarily evoked Surrealism. Pešánek greatly appreciated the favourable reviews by František Viktor Mokrý [Mokrý 1936] and Josef Richard Marek [Marek 1936]; he considered the exhibition a success, as it also helped him establish new contacts. He began to cooperate with Josef Vydra, the director of the School of Arts and Crafts in Bratislava, and, in early 1937, they discussed the possibility of showcasing Pešánek’s sculptures in the school building [Mojžišová 2009]. However, these works never made it to Slovakia. In November 1936, the exhibition committee of the Czechoslovak representation at the International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life in Paris in 1937 decided to exhibit them in the state pavilion, where they formed part of the tourism and spa industry exhibition. The sculptures came back to Prague, but they were never installed on the facade of the transformer station and likely perished during the Second World War. The exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts remained their only public presentation in Czechoslovakia.

Lenka Pastýříková

Works Cited

V-á [Hana Volavková], Světelná a zvuková plastika, Národní střed 16, 1934, no. 91, 1. 4., p. 7

Š. [Václav Vilém Štech], Dvě výstavy v Umělecko-průmyslovém museu, České slovo XXVIII, 1936, no. 254, 1. 11., p. 14

fvm [František Viktor Mokrý], Světelně pohyblivé plastiky, Venkov X, 1936, p. 261, 10. 11., p. 6

Josef Richard Marek, Výstavy v Uměleckoprůmyslovém museu, Národní listy LXXVI, 1936, no. 312, 14. 11., p. 1

F. K. [František Kovárna], V Uměleckoprůmyslovém museu…, Pražské noviny CCLVII, 1936, no. 272, 22. 11., p. 5

Jiří Zemánek (ed.), Zdeněk Pešánek 1896–1965 (exh. cat.), Národní galerie v Praze 1996

Iva Mojžišová, Konštrukcia, pohyb, svetlo. Podnety a predchodcovia kinetizmu na Slovensku (1929–1938), in: eadem, Giacomettiho smiech?, Bratislava, Vysoká škola výtvarných umení, 2009, pp. 222–229

Further Reading

šp, Světelné sochařství na pražské ulici, Národní osvobození 13, 1936, no. 128, 31. 5., p. 5

ICA, Nové umění – kinetismus, Národní sjednocení 3, 1936, no. 25, 19. 6., p. 6

František Viktor Mokrý, Světelně pohyblivé plastiky, Výtvarná výchova III, 1936–1937, no. 3, pp. 8–9

Zdeněk Pešánek, Kinetismus: Kinetika ve výtvarnictví – barevná hudba, Praha 1941, pp. 90–101 

Magdalena Juříková, Zdeněk Pešánek a slavnosti světla na světové výstavě v Paříži, in: Jiří Zemánek (ed.), Zdeněk Pešánek 1896–1965 (exh. cat.), Národní galerie v Praze 1996, pp. 162–191

Iva Knobloch, Zdeněk Pešánek – Světelné plastiky. Krásné světlo, in: Iva Knobloch (ed.), Odvaha a risk: Století designu v UPM (exh. cat.), Uměleckoprůmyslové museum v Praze 2019, pp. 34–53

Archival Sources

Centre of Documentation, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Benedikt Rejt Gallery in Louny

Archive of Architecture and Civil Engineering, National Technical Museum in Prague, fonds Zdeněk Pešánek

jč. [Josef Čapek], Světelně kinetické plastiky arch. Zdeňka Pešánka, Lidové noviny XLIV, 1936, no. 550, 3. 11., p. 9

Kr. [Jaromír Krecar], Gobeliny a surrealismus, Polední list IX, 1935–1936, no. 298, 25. 10. 1936, p. 2