Marie Rakušanová

The fin de siècle artworks collection in The Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen ranks among the best public collections in the Czech Republic. It covers all the key trends that appeared on the contemporary art scene, i.e. naturalism, symbolism, impressionism and art nouveau. At that time, Czech art was an integral part of international structures and many artists from the Czech lands studied, exhibited or worked in the key cultural centres of Europe, such as Vienna, Munich and Paris. The Pilsen collection includes, among others, works of two artists who achieved worldwide fame: one of the most important protagonists of art nouveau, Alfons Mucha, and the co-founder of abstract painting, František Kupka.

Czech Cubism is one of the most important contributions of modern Czech art to world culture. These works, created approximately between 1910 and 1935, embrace painting, drawing, graphic art, collage, sculpture, architecture and applied art, and the movement’s leading lights – including painters Emil Filla and Bohumil Kubišta, sculptor Otto Gutfreund and architect Pavel Janák – were among the most exciting practitioners of Cubism anywhere in the world. The Gallery of West Bohemia is home to one of the most important collections of the best Czech Cubist art, painstakingly assembled since the early 1960s. The artworks included here have played a vital role in rehabilitating the avant-garde in a country where modernist art had suffered decades of political repression. As such, the collections of the Gallery of West Bohemia have been crucial to the revival of the domestic art scene in Bohemia and beyond, and continue to inspire contemporary Czech artists. This book, expertly compiled by Gallery Director Roman Musil and his team, introduces some of the finest works of Czech Cubism to an international audience.