Publicistika 3 - Výtvarné eseje a kritiky 1921-1930 – Čapek Josef (2022)

The texts included in the last two volumes were mostly originally published in periodicals and date back to the time of Čapek's work at Lidové noviny, where he was responsible for the section dealing with exhibitions in Prague. He regularly contributed to this newspaper from April 1921 until his arrest on September 1, 1939. He published hundreds of reports in which he tracked artistic activities in the capital. Although the newspaper did not consider itself a space for art criticism, his work for the paper cannot be read merely as informative articles about exhibitions in Prague. He almost never renounced his own evaluations, in which he expressed his distinct claim to artistic creation, which he himself applied in his painting. He followed exhibitions of important artistic personalities as well as lesser-known authors and wrote with enthusiasm about their artistic endeavors. He did not overlook women's art or exhibitions by members of various artistic societies, such as the Germans, and was one of the few who reported on them at that time. He informed about exhibitions of foreign artists as well as exhibitions of applied art authors. In artistic creation, he emphasized his own way of seeing and expressing, rejecting epigonism, routine, conventionality, cheap effects, and mannerism. Against academicism...