Art movements can be a blur to me.
Isn't art meant to be pleasing and pastoral and calm and generally relaxing to the viewer?
Not so in Prague where Dear Husbola and I recently returned from an incredible trip filled with architectural eye candy, good coffee, rousing history and fabulous art.
Cubism is one of those art movements that needs to be viewed up close--books and art history course slides do not catch it.
The city of Prague is a baroque masterpiece--and then comes the jarring BANG of cubism and it is a beautiful marriage.
Cubism is an early 20th century avant garde art movement in direct response to the flowery organic nature of the art nouveau. It arrived in Prague in about 1910. It screams "Look at me I am different!"
It may sound very trite--"Prague is a living museum" and that completely sells short its vibrant citzens and the vitality of the people we have come to enjoy after many visits. Czech cubism is alive in furniture, buildings, art and even coffee shops.
We have previously told you about our favorite Cafe Orient--a total cubist gem that was just a few blocks from the Hotel Paris where we stayed for most of this visit.
We visited the spectacular GASK Art Museum in Kutna Hora.
This new museum opened in May 2010 in a renovated former Jesuit college building. We were rattling around in this fabulous bright space almost by ourselves. The aubergine colored walls were a fabulous backdrop to the art throughout.
The Prague Museum of Modern Art is in the old communist era Trade Palace. 25 years ago it held tractors and combines and agricultural fairs. Now it hold spectacular Czech art and this cubist furniture. Angles that jar you--but you can't help but look at its beauty. LOVE IT!
The impressionists are fine. But Czech cubism is memorably unsettling.
No comments:
Post a Comment