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Czech Art of the 20th century

This largest collection acquired its first items in 1927 by purchasing the estate of brothers Ferdinand and Alexandr Bloch, which, among others, included several valuable works by Willi Nowak, George Kars, and Alfred Justitz. However, there followed a long period before anyone else resumed new acquisitions: it was Jaro Beran, the collection administrator, and after 1946 also its first director. These new arrivals concerned Impressionism paintings (Antonín Slavíček, Václav Radimský, Josef Ullman) and paintings of the 1890’s generation. Together, they laid the foundation of the future collection.

The successor to Jaro Beran, Hana Seifertová, collected more than 250 paintings from the 1890’s to the late 1960’s while managing the Gallery. Paintings by the members of the Sursum Group, a collection of Cubist works including the Kiss of Death by Bohumil Kubišta, and paintings by Josef Šíma and Alois Wachsmann ranked among the most precious acquisitions. From 1970 Naďa Řeháková, the collection curator and the author of the 1974 collection catalogue, continued to complement the collection.

From 1990, Věra Laštovková, Gallery Director, and Eva Výtisková, collection curator, commenced filling the gap in purchases of artwork from the past periods by acquiring works of Art Informel, Lettrism, Constructivism, New Figuration, and others. One of the major events held in 2003–2004 was the exhibition called Looking Back, which introduced the most interesting paintings of this collection and included also sculptures.

The permanent exhibition is conceived in a chronological order from the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century until the 1980’s. Due to a lack of space only the main phases of the Czech Modern Art are on display (the landscape school of Julius Mařák – František Kaván, Otakar Lebeda, Impressionism – Antonín Slavíček, Antonín Hudeček, Art Nouveau monumental decorativeness – Karel Špillar, the 1890's generation – Jan Preisler, Symbolism – Josef Váchal, Jan Zrzavý, formation of the Czech Avant-garde, the Osma Group – Bohumil Kubišta, Otakar Nejedlý, Cubism – Antonín Procházka and Vincenc Beneš, an extensive collection dedicated to Emil Filla, Cubist Expressionism – Josef Čapek, Surrealism – apart from the above mentioned Alois Wachsmann also Toyen and František Janoušek). The imaginative line of the Czech Pre-war art includes also solitary artists such as František Muzika, Zdeněk Sklenář, the Ra Group – Václav Tikal, Josef Istler and Václav Zykmund. The war period is represented by the Group 42 – František Hudeček, František Gross, and by the group Sedm v říjnu – Arnošt Paderlík, Josef Liesler, and František Jiroudek.

The post-war development is represented by works created by members of the following painting groups: Máj – Zbyněk Sekal, Zdeněk Palcr, Stanislav Podhrázský, UB 12 – Václav Bartovský, Václav Boštík, Jiří John, Etapa – Václav Kiml, František Ronovský. The Trasa Group is represented by a sculpture by Eva Kmentová. Selections from Informel paintings include works by Robert Piesen, Zbyšek Sion, and partially also Mikuláš Medek. Lettrism is represented by Jiří Balcar, the Constructive tendencies by Radoslav Kratina, New Figuration by Rudolf Němec.

The regional art introduces the contemporary landscape paintings by Jiří Dostál and paintings that develop the New Figuration style and existentialist view of life - Václav Benda, Rostislav Zárybnický. Selections from sculpture works accompany the entire collection. Apart from the above mentioned Eva Kmentová and Zdeněk Palcr, these include sculptures by Bedřich Stefan, Hana Wichterlová, Dalibor Chatrný, Karel Nepraš and others.