Czechoslovakian Realism #2
The troubled path of an art that reflected on the regime society in Czechoslovakia from 1940s to 1980s
Men, stay awake! (1950) by I. A. KostěrevEleutheria Foundation
1948
In 1948, with the establishment of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, every author, if he wanted to exhibit and practice the profession of artist, had to become a member of the Union of Artists, with the task of controlling the ideological content of works of art.
The Union of Artists
The Union of Artists supported the creation of the works of socialist realism, whose favorite themes were, for example, the miners, blacksmiths, smelters, portraits that could be defined as epic because they were proposed as a model of behavior for all other workers.
Potato harvest (1954) by Václav TrefilEleutheria Foundation
What are the themes in the painting of Socialistic Realism?
In the space of this ideologically programmed art one discovers painters with dissimilar intentions. The compositional schemes are the epic portrait of a protagonist, the factories or the space of a countryside, but always with the workers at work.
The works of art in this period bear the burden of the Soviet Union's five-year plans which are reflected in the often quality compositions of Czechoslovakian artists. An example February 1948 by Adolf Zábranský (1909-1981), a sort of The Fourth Estate in a Czech version.
In the factory (1948) by Josef BoháčEleutheria Foundation
Glassware (1950) by František TurekEleutheria Foundation
Workshop in Ostrava (1950) by Karel HolanEleutheria Foundation
Typography (1960) by Jaroslav MalínskýEleutheria Foundation
In the paintings of František Klikar (1904–1979) the work is represented in a joyful way, typical of the Soviet world.
