Conflicts of Vision - Facets of modernity in the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century/1890-1918

This monograph discusses the manifold and complex development of modern Czech art in a period marked by unusual intensity of artistic endeavour. Main artistic trends followed in quick succession: impressionism, symbolism, Decadence and expressionism, cubism and civilism. In the Czech lands, followers of these trends were mostly artists of the so-called generation of the 1890’s. Some of them founded Spolek výtvarných umělců Mánes (Antonín Slavíček, Otakar Lebeda, Jan Preisler, František Bílek) or were connected with the circle of Moderní revue (Modern Revue) like Karel Hlaváček. At the beginning of the 20th century members of several artistic groups – Osma and Skupina výtvarných umělců (Emil Filla, Bohumil Kubišta, Otto Gutfreund, Václav Špála, Josef Čapek) and members of the Sursum group (Josef Váchal, Jan Zrzavý) draw on the traditions and program of the previous generation. The book ends with a section on the Tvrdošíjní group, which was the only group reflecting trends in modern art, introduced by the previous generation, shortly before the end of the First World War. The book has eleven chapters