Course details
Czech Art of the Second Half of the 20th Century in Context
1CU20st-L FaVU 1CU20st-L Acad. year 2017/2018 Summer semester 3 credits
The course provides an overview of the essential tendencies and personalities in Czech art from 1940s to 1990s. The course provides a survey of important art groups and individual artists and reflects their links in European and international tendencies, as well as art developments within political contexts.
As for 1940s, the course emphasizes the importance of the so-called "groups of the war period", but also stresses the importance of presonalities so far neglected. We will also look at surrealist and parasurrealist tendencies in these groups and outside them, and some time will be devoted to the local art scenes in regional or distric towns (Kolin, Zlin)
1950s: we will attempt to judge objectively the works of artists active in the style of socialist realism, map the activities of the surrealist and parasurrealist groups, Vladimir Boudnik as the pioneer of the so called explosionalism, and the iniciators of the "Czech grotesque," The Smidras (The Fiddlers).
The activities of well-known artistic groups will be described (May, The Route, UB12], however, we will also devote our attention to those which are lesser known (M52, RADAR]. We will trace the continuous change of official art doctrine from the 50s to the 80s and survey the key personalities of socialist realism.
1960s: new tendencies, the influence of informel, its localized versions. The influence of neo-dada and pop on Czech art of the second half of the 60s. We will situate the "new figuration" tendencies as the result of many art developments and strong personalities.
1970s: mapping the new structuration of Czech art scene from official tendencies in its specific and grotesque aspects (The Army Studio of the Arts, art laureates and national artists) to the "unofficial scene" and straightforward underground.
We will trace the specificity of Czech performance and happenings.
The role of the Jazz Section will be described.
1980s: the course will focus on the lesser known aspects of the social and political context of the decades.
artists: the importance of the 12/15 group, the arrival of new generation born in 1950s, art of the non-declared but practicaly active art groups. We will look at the change of the situation in late 1980s, the arrival of the Stubborn group and the wider context of its activities.
Guarantor
Language of instruction
Completion
Time span
- 26 hrs lectures
Department
Lecturer
Subject specific learning outcomes and competences
Students will be aware of the basic and other, seemingly less important tendencies of Czech art of the given period, they will be able to match tem with the adequate movements in international art, they will be able to point to artists specific for Czech art who are not so easily definable and pigeonholed. We will also emphasize trends begun in this period which are still important for art at the beginning of the 21st century.
Learning objectives
The course aims at imforming students about Czech art scene of the second half of the 20th century without prejudice and received opinions. We will revisit the avantgarde, mainstream, and "politically engaged" tendencies and discover new contexts (between art of the 40s and 60s, tracing the surrealist, parasurrealist, and imaginist tendencies from the 40s to the present, we will trace the international tendencies such as art brut, abstraction, abstract expressionism, neodada, pop art, happening,s hyperrealism, transavantguardia, neoexpressionism, and other movements).
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Basic knowledge of general Czech history, especially of the 20th century is desirable.
Syllabus of lectures
1. Czech art of the 1940s, art groups and tendencies during the WWII, postwar illusions, socialist art versus underground.
2. Post-stalinist "warming up" , art groups 1957 - 1969, "tame modernity" Brusel 1958 exhibition, hard edge art underground - informel since 1965.
3. Concretism as an opposition, Czech New Figurative Paintig of the 60s.
4. 1968. Post - occupation shock, communist "normalisation" of the 70s, end of the art scene. Action art, happening, performances (including rock) as an antidotum.
5. Re-constitution of the art scene in 70s and 80s. Postsurrealism, hyperrealism, abstraction, direct realism.
6. Semi-official scene, rock and jazz music, art exhibitions, publications under the aegis of the (lately banned) music society.
7. New wave of art exhibitions of new generations between 1980 - 1985.
8. Postmodern discontinuity of the postmodern "Stubborn generation" after 1985.
9. Reconstitution of art scene in the end of 80´s, Velvet revolution 1989 as the end of 40 years of political and cultural totalities.
10. Lost world of cultural semi - undergrounds of the 70´s and 80´s,
Progress assessment
Test
Teaching methods and criteria
Teaching methods depend on the type of course unit as specified in the article 7 of BUT Rules for Studies and Examinations..
Controlled instruction
Lecures are optional.
Course inclusion in study plans