PRESS RELEASE / 15/4/2015
The National Gallery in Prague invites you to the Mysterious
Distances of Symbolism
Symbolism as an independent phenomenon. The exhibition Mysterious Distances,
Symbolism in Bohemian lands, 1880–1914 is presenting a style of art which made
Czech visual art for the first time part of European art. And yet Symbolism in visual art
has never been presented to such an extent as it is done now. So on April 22 the
convent of St Agnes of Bohemia will turn into a place full of secrets, myths and
symbols.
As to the dates, the exhibition, the name of which refers to a volume of poems by Otokar
Březina, is framed by the years of the opening of the National Theatre and the beginning of
the First World War. In that period exceptional works influenced by Symbolism were
produced in Bohemian lands. Previouslly, Symbolism was presented mainly as a subchapter
of Art Nouveau. And yet it has the merit of incorporating Czech art of the next decade, in a
natural way, in the culture of the old continent.
”In Symbolism for the first time and most unequivocally criticism of the national tendencies
dominating 19th-century Czech culture was manifested. The artists thought themselves part of
the spiritual community, regardless of national or social belonging”, the author of the
exhibition, Otto M. Urban, says. Not only the visual artists sought related souls among their
foreign counterparts in Paris, London, Berlin or Vienna. Thanks to them, later even Czech
representatives of Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism could enter the international
world.
The exhibition Mysterious Distances, Symbolism in Bohemian lands, 1880–1914 introduces
such well known and recognized artists as Alfons Mucha, Max Švabinský, František Bílek,
Josef Váchal, Bohumil Kubišta and Jan Zrzavý. Beside them, represented here are artists
less often exhibited and almost unknown abroad – Maxmilián Pirner, Beneš Knüpfer, August
Brömse, Jaroslav Panuška, Josef Mandl, Tavík František Šimon and Alois Boháč. ”In those
days artists increasingly often applied the theory of synthetism, in an attempt to link art and
life, to perceive beauty, but also pain in a deeper way. The pragmatic reality, however, was in
direct contradiction to it so that many artists chose voluntary loneliness and dreaming in the
twilight of studios or cafés,” says Otto M. Urban.
The works on display come from large prestigious Czech galleries and in some cases from
galleries abroad, but also from minor museums and regional institutions. Often the picture of
Czech Symbolism is enriched by a large group of items on loan from private collections. The
exhibition was made possible by the collaboration of the National Gallery in Prague, the
Olomouc Museum of Art, and the Arbor vitae publishing house, as part of the international
project of Czech-Polish cultural cooperation in 2014–2015. The exhibition in St Agnes’
convent follows after the exhibition held in 2014 in Olomouc Museum of Art, which on a
smaller scale was also presented at the International Center of Culture in Cracow, under the
name The Rulers of Dreams.
“Unlike the preceding exhibition, the core of this one consists of works from the collection in
the National Gallery in Prague, which previously was represented at the Olomouc exhibition
in a selection only. The Prague exhibition is based on a large number of exhibits from its own
sources, containing seminal works of Czech Symbolism, presented here in a new context.
Greater attention is also given to Symbolist books, which played an undisputable role in the
development of modern Czech literature”, says the curator of the exhibition Anna Pravdová.
The way Symbolism crossed to other cultural forms will be reflected by an accompanying
programme at the exhibition, which will put into a common context visual art and literature as
well as theatre and music. The exhibition Mysterious Distances, Symbolism in Bohemian
lands 1880–1914 is supplemented by a book of the same name, published by Arbor vitae,
Olomouc Museum of Art and the National Gallery in Prague.
Press materials and pictures from the exhibition:
ftp://78.41.22.132/press
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password: press*2015*
General partner of NG
Komerční banka
Partner of the exhibition
ČEZ, Ferona
Principal media partner of NG
Česká televize
Media partner of NG
Český rozhlas, Hospodářské noviny, Aktuálně.cz, Prague Events Calendar, Anopress IT
Contact
Národní galerie v Praze
Staroměstské náměstí 12, 110 15 Praha 1
Web www.ngprague.cz
Facebook www.facebook.com/NGvPraze
Twitter www.twitter.com/narodnigalerie
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeYULpYNcpUJxSeK2FpDpsg
Contact for media
Tereza Ježková
+420 728 301 377
jezkova@ngprague.cz