DOI issue:
Nr. 2
DOI article:Prahl, Roman: Bohemians in Prague in the latter half of the nineteenth century
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51715#0159
MAS6 JLiùfNi.
8. Anonymous: The Volné směry FLditorial Board, Spachtle, 1896. Prague, National Gallery. Photo: Archive of thegallety.
the main tribune in Prague for modern Czech and
international visual art.12
As the monthly magazine for Czech modern-
ists, published since autumn 1896, Volné směry had a
precursor in the “one-copy magazine” produced by
Skréta, the society founded by Czech art students
in Munich. This private periodical continued in
Prague as a platform for the Mânes Association of
Fine Artists, and included drawings, photographs
and texts, both serious work and subversive bohe-
mian humour.13 The magazine continued to operáte
alongside Volné směry for many years, serving as its
counterpart: it allowed experiments that would be
^inacceptable on the public art scene. Being pub-
lished for a small community of young artists, it
even included some opinions that ran contrary to the
PRAHL, R. - BYDŽOVSKÁ, L.: Freie Pachtungen. Die Zeitschrift
derPragerSecession und Moderne. Praha 1994; published in Czech
as Volné směry. Časopis pražské secese a moderny [Free Currents.
The Magazine of Prague Art Nouveau and Modernism],
For the sole monograph to date on the first phase of the
history of the Mánes Association, see BYDŽOVSKÁ, L.:
Spolek výtvarných umělců Mánes v letech 1887- 1907 [The Mánes
Association of Fine Artists 1887 — 1907]. [Diss.] Charles
University, Faculty of Arts. Praha 1989.
Mánes Association’s official line. Many such works
had, however, ambiguous meanings. For instance,
a collective portrait of représentatives of Mánes
and the éditorial board of Volné směry, entitled Our
Youth, caricatures men who had grown old in their
role of promising young artists, because the Czech
national scene only paid lip service to youth and
progress [Fig. 8],
Mánes ušed the ideology of youth — an ideology
shared by the liberal element in the middle classes
— to present itself to the public, and at the associa-
tion’s first exhibition in spring 1898 it demonstrated
its opposition to the established order. The asso-
ciation’s subséquent exhibitions and other activities
played a large role in the gradual acceptance of Czech
and international modernism in Prague. The poster
13 For more on this private periodical produced by Škréta
and Mánes, see PRAHL, R.: Paleta — Špachtle. Idea a praxe
časopisu české výtvarné moderny [Paleta — Špachtle. The
Idea and Practice of a Czech Modern Art Magazine]. In:
KRÁL, O. - SVADBOVÁ, B. - VAŠÁK, P. (eds.): Prameny
české moderní kultury [Origins of Modern Czech Culture], Vol.
2. Praha 1988, pp. 217-240.
151
8. Anonymous: The Volné směry FLditorial Board, Spachtle, 1896. Prague, National Gallery. Photo: Archive of thegallety.
the main tribune in Prague for modern Czech and
international visual art.12
As the monthly magazine for Czech modern-
ists, published since autumn 1896, Volné směry had a
precursor in the “one-copy magazine” produced by
Skréta, the society founded by Czech art students
in Munich. This private periodical continued in
Prague as a platform for the Mânes Association of
Fine Artists, and included drawings, photographs
and texts, both serious work and subversive bohe-
mian humour.13 The magazine continued to operáte
alongside Volné směry for many years, serving as its
counterpart: it allowed experiments that would be
^inacceptable on the public art scene. Being pub-
lished for a small community of young artists, it
even included some opinions that ran contrary to the
PRAHL, R. - BYDŽOVSKÁ, L.: Freie Pachtungen. Die Zeitschrift
derPragerSecession und Moderne. Praha 1994; published in Czech
as Volné směry. Časopis pražské secese a moderny [Free Currents.
The Magazine of Prague Art Nouveau and Modernism],
For the sole monograph to date on the first phase of the
history of the Mánes Association, see BYDŽOVSKÁ, L.:
Spolek výtvarných umělců Mánes v letech 1887- 1907 [The Mánes
Association of Fine Artists 1887 — 1907]. [Diss.] Charles
University, Faculty of Arts. Praha 1989.
Mánes Association’s official line. Many such works
had, however, ambiguous meanings. For instance,
a collective portrait of représentatives of Mánes
and the éditorial board of Volné směry, entitled Our
Youth, caricatures men who had grown old in their
role of promising young artists, because the Czech
national scene only paid lip service to youth and
progress [Fig. 8],
Mánes ušed the ideology of youth — an ideology
shared by the liberal element in the middle classes
— to present itself to the public, and at the associa-
tion’s first exhibition in spring 1898 it demonstrated
its opposition to the established order. The asso-
ciation’s subséquent exhibitions and other activities
played a large role in the gradual acceptance of Czech
and international modernism in Prague. The poster
13 For more on this private periodical produced by Škréta
and Mánes, see PRAHL, R.: Paleta — Špachtle. Idea a praxe
časopisu české výtvarné moderny [Paleta — Špachtle. The
Idea and Practice of a Czech Modern Art Magazine]. In:
KRÁL, O. - SVADBOVÁ, B. - VAŠÁK, P. (eds.): Prameny
české moderní kultury [Origins of Modern Czech Culture], Vol.
2. Praha 1988, pp. 217-240.
151