Od lidového umění k výtvarnému folklorismu – Křížová Alena (2026)

This Czech-language book, written by a collective led by ethnologist Alena Křížová, examines folk art and artistic folklorism. Folk art has been an integral subject of ethnological interest and study since the 19th century. Objects considered aesthetically valuable from the perspective of their time were classified as folk art, regardless of their original function in a rural setting, their material or their method of production. These material records were among the first objects to enter museum collections and were understood as examples of national art, intended to serve as a counterpart to academic art of an international character. Until the second half of the 20th century, the term folk art had no fixed definition, and its meaning changed intuitively according to the views of individual researchers. Scholarly interest focused almost exclusively on the past, up to the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 1970s, however, ethnology reached a crossroads and began asking what should continue to be studied in the present. Unlike social culture, which follows the natural development and changes in customs, musical and dance expression, and dress, scholarly research remained focused almost entirely on historical topics. It therefore became necessary to move beyond the established stereotypical view of folk art and turn attention to mass culture and artistic folklorism. This also led to a reassessment of terminology and the adoption of the broader concept of folk visual culture, which, unlike folk art, does not explicitly require aesthetic value.