The term New Realisms refers to a broader spectrum of the period realist approaches, including the areas of work traditionally referred to as Neoclassicism, Verism, New Objectivity, social art, magic realism and primitivism and, in photography, especially the New Vision. In terms of content, these are often depictions of modern life and its transformations in connection with the development of technology, the emancipation of women, the possibilities of travel, communication and entertainment. These works respond both to the social success of the newly emerging middle class and to the pressing social problems of an economically divided society.

The intention of presenting these modern realist approaches from the Czechoslovak space is linked to recent similar projects in Germany, Italy, Austria and the USA, with which the Czechoslovak scene, anchored in the Central European space, corresponds in some respects, but at the same time bears its own regionally conditioned specifics. The project follows works that formally and in terms of their content are related and reflect the modern realist tendencies of the 1920s, which until recently have largely stood aside from the predominantly Francophone interpretation of the development of art history in Czechoslovakia. The exhibition at the Municipal Library will present paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints, with a separate section devoted to photography and film, including period magazines.

The aim of the exhibition is to encompass modern realist expressions of the given time period, taking into account ethnic minorities and solitary artists within the borders of the former Czechoslovakia, while offering an alternative view of the previously experienced perception of modernity in the visual culture of the period under review. Among those represented will be Karel Čapek, Jan Zrzavý, Otto Gutfreund, František Muzika, Miloslav Holý, Pravoslav Kotík, Milada Marešová, Zdenek Rykr, Vlasta Vostřebalová-Fišerová, Konštantín Bauer, Sándor (Alexander) Bortnyik, Ferdiš Duša, František Foltýn, Jaromír Funke, Paul Gebauer, Edmund Gwerk, Karel Holan, Běla Kašparová, Béla Kontuly, Alfred Kunft, Ladislav Majerský, Erwin Müller, Ernest Neuschul, Edith Plischke-Fleissner, Arthur Ressel, Jaroslav Rössler, Gejza Schiller, Ilona Singer, Erika Streit, Imrich Weiner-Král’, Eugen Wiškovský and others.

The exhibition is a continuation of the research supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic.

The project will be presented in a modified and expanded version in a double exhibition at the East Slovak Gallery in Košice from October 2024 to February 2025 (mainly themes such as lived reality, portraiture, still life) and at the Peter Michal Bohúň Gallery in Liptovský Mikuláš (mainly the medium of photography and film with an emphasis on social aspects and propaganda).

Prague City Gallery — Municipal Library, 2nd floor