In Morbid Colours: Art and the Idea of Decadence in the Bohemian Lands, 1880–1914
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In Morbid Colours: Art and the Idea of Decadence in the Bohemian Lands, 1880–1914 was an exposition on Czech Decadence in the fin de siecle period.
About decadence
The idea of decadence had already begun to gradually infiltrate the Czech environment during the 1880s. The introductory phase of decadence was associated with a reassessment of the romantic perspective of the world stimulated by current social events. Most often this period is called neo-romanticism; in the Czech environment it is represented by the works of, for instance, Max Pirner, Hanuš Schwaiger, Beneš Knüpfer, Gabriel Max and Jakub Schikaneder. In the art of the 1890s, we can find works that can be directly associated with the decadence movement, for instance works by František Bílek, Karel Hlaváček, although also works by Max Švabinsky, Alfons Mucha, Jan Preisler and František Kaván. Their works were followed by decadent works from representatives of the, so-called, second symbolist generation, that is, artists who appeared on the domestic arts scene around 1905 and created a succession of the decadence of the 1890s. This particularly relates to artists united later in the Sursum association, that is, František Kobliha, Jan Zrzavý, Josef Váchal and Jan Konůpek.
In this context the exhibition also covers the work of artists from the German Prague community who were directly influenced by decadence, for example, works by Hugo Steiner-Prag, Emil Orlik and Ferdinand Staeger. At the same time, the works by several Austrian artists who had direct and creative connections with the Czech environment, for instance Alfred Kubin, is presented. Attention is also paid to the projection of decadence into the work of the representatives of the early avant-garde, particularly that of the expressionists and cubists. Such connections are typical of the Czech environment; in particular, a section of the work by Emil Filla and Bohumil Kubišta linked the new poetism of decadence with the new radical visual form in a creative manner. In the pre-war era, artistic photography also began to assert itself; the work of František Drtikol in particular directly exhibited the influence of decadence.
The In Morbid Colours: Art and the Idea of Decadence in the Bohemian Lands, 1880–1914 exhibition was the first project of its kind in this country. Up till now, decadence has been presented as a specific chapter within larger exhibition projects. The exhibition consists of inter-related theme units representing individual key topics associated with the concept of decadence (for example, self-analysis through self-portraits, the depiction of death as a point of departure, love and sexuality, etc). That also means that the exhibition presents seldom-exhibited and previously overlooked artists (for example, Jaroslav Panuška and Josef Mandl) besides the well-known and recognised artists. The exhibits stem from both large, well-established galleries (the National Gallery, the City Gallery Prague and the Museum of Czech Literature), and smaller museums and other regional institutions. Another contribution being made by the exhibition is the fact that, besides well-known works, it presents a number of pieces that have not been exhibited before.
