Bohumil Kubišta a Evropa – Rakušanová Marie (2020)

This Czech-language monograph offers a new assessment of the work of the important Czech modern artist Bohumil Kubišta, moving beyond the traditional format of an art-historical study. It examines his work through the complex artistic, cultural and historical relationships of Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. Kubišta and other Central European artists initially balanced admiration for the modernist universalism of the artistic movements of Paris with the search for an alternative modern expression rooted in local artistic and intellectual traditions. His determined effort to initiate a strong, timeless and distinctive modern culture met with incomprehension from the domestic public, leading to conflicts between the aggressively advancing factions of Prague modernism and finally fragmenting amid the chaos of the First World War. The monograph also follows Kubišta step by step through the boulevards and cafés of Paris and through cities such as Florence and Pula, where he took part in the First World War as a captain. Using cartographic methods, it precisely records the movement of his works between Central European centres and regional cultural hubs. Kubišta’s network includes not only important European artists and associations, but also celebrated works of art that independently enter ever-new situations and resist the anthropocentric perspective of traditional art history.