Publicistika 2 - Výtvarné eseje a kritiky 1905-1920 – Čapek Josef (2013)

An unpublished collection of visual essays and critiques by Josef Čapek. - With the sixth volume of the Works of Josef Čapek, we are launching a series on visual journalism – the most extensive and least known area of Čapek's literary legacy. Čapek dedicated himself to this alongside his artistic and literary work throughout his life; he published his first visual report as a student at the Arts and Crafts School in 1905 and wrote his last for Lidové noviny during the summer of 1939, just weeks before his arrest. This volume focuses on the period from 1905 to 1920, during which Čapek gradually matures from a novice reporter into a significant figure of the pre-war avant-garde. In his articles, he not only seeks to observe the visual arts but also to actively shape them. He advocates for the principles of new artistic movements, defends the non-descriptive relationship of art to reality, and teaches how to see the beauty of 'modern visual forms.' His reports capture essential events in the Czech visual scene, covering a wide range from the activities of traditionally oriented societies to new breakthroughs, and, within the limits of possibility, they also map the current artistic happenings in Paris and Berlin. During World War I, when artistic life is struggling and there are not many opportunities for critics in Prague, Čapek focuses on more general...