Passion, Dream, Ideal Czech Art Nouveau Sculpture 1. 4. 2014 – 2. 11. 2014

The exhibition presents a cross-section through the oeuvres of the most distinct figures of Czech Art-Nouveau sculpture. In 1896, Josef Myslbek – a significant role-model for the generation of sculptors at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries – established a studio of sculpture at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts.

The crucial role for the graduates from the Myslbek School was played by their presentations at the Annual Exhibitions held by the art association Krasoumná jednota in the Rudolfinum in Prague. There, they had a chance to compare their hitherto achievements with those by the contemporary luminaries such as Auguste Rodin and the Belgian sculptor Constantine Meunier, who both largely influenced their artistic opinion.

The artists exhibiting side by side with the young Czech sculptors in the Rudolfinum were their German-speaking colleagues from the Academy. They displayed their works in the section of the Association of German Fine Artists in the Czech lands along with their colleague Franz Metzner, a native from Všeruby near Plzeň, who mainly worked in Berlin. Berlin, along with Vienna, Munich and Paris, became a significant centre where many, today almost unknown, Hořice graduates gained their first artistic experiences.