Don't miss this powerful Josef Čapek retrospective.
The vast majority of the works displayed are from private collections,
allowing viewers to see the comprehensive scope and development of this extraordinary artist.
This review, written for the opening at Prague Castle in 2009, gives a good overview but neglects to mention the appeal of the early pencil
drawings, particularly of those of trees, where Čapek has captured the essence
of a fir or of a spring orchard in just a few strokes. He kept this
remarkable ability throughout his life. Later in the exhibit we see how, with just a few lines, he portrays the charm of little boys with mischievous eyes and "disheveled" hair or little girls like his daughter, holding flowers or strawberries.
In the exhibit of illustrations, we see that ability shine in both his illustrations for his own children's stories and his brother's humorous stories (the battle with the garden hose in "Gardener's Year" makes one laugh out loud) and in his very powerful anti-war, anti-Fascist black line drawings.
Contrast the anti-Fascist drawings done during the same years as the paintings which express the numinous in "ordinary" life. To see this is to realize what kind of man it was that the Nazis arrested and sent to four concentration camps and death.
The quotations from his writings and his letters, posted in both Czech and English, add an immeasurable richness to the exhibit. For the first time, English speakers have a chance to become acquainted with this quiet but powerful voice.
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After a much-acclaimed run at the Prague Castle this winter, the exhibit has re-opened in Pardubice at the East Bohemian Gallery, which co-sponsored the exhibit in Prague. It runs March 4 through May 30. It is well worth a short spring excursion.
The exhibition is hosted two places, the chateau and the nearby Dum u Jonáše. This map shows the locations as well as the tourist information center.
Let us hope that someone with international connections facilitates further travel round the E.U., Japan, and the U.S.
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