Art historian and gallerist. Previously the Director of the Kunstverein in Düsseldorf and the Curator of the Kunstmuseum in Wolfsburg, since 1995 he has run the private Jiri Svestka Gallery in Prague, concentrating on contemporary and modern art. In 1991 he organised an extensive exhibition in Düsseldorf, 1909−1925 Cubism in Prague.
PLAYING WITH CRYSTALS
AN INTERVIEW WITH JIØÍ ŠVESTKA, CONSULTANT FOR THIS CHAPTER
WHAT APPEALS TO YOU ABOUT THAT
PERIOD?
Czech Cubism appeals to me because
it was a time when Czech artists
were coming to terms with the latest
developments in art, with great courage
and at great risk. There was a systematic
departure from the traditional models
from Munich and Vienna. It doesn’t
matter that it wasn’t entirely consistent.
It brought new energy into the country,
something Czech art could draw on right
up to the end of the twentieth century.
WHAT DID THAT PERIOD
CONTRIBUTE TO CZECH DESIGN?
Cubist design became part of the new art.
It was not meant merely as an accessory;
its designers intended it to formulate the
period lifestyle. In practice, of course,
things were a little different, and Cubist
design didn’t become a mass-produced
product. In that respect it was very
similar to its unavowed role model, the
Wiener Werkstätte.
WHAT EVENTS DO YOU THINK HAD
THE GREATEST INFLUENCE ON
CZECH DESIGN?
The advent of Cubism in this country
was associated with nationalist tendencies
in the disintegrating Austro-Hungarian
Empire. Exhibitions of French,
German and Czech art that presented
the latest trends had a great influence
here. Paradoxically, it was commissions
in Vienna during the First World War
that allowed Cubist design to survive
financially.
WHAT WERE YOUR CRITERIA FOR
SELECTING INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITS?
In design, what is crucial for me is
the authenticity of an object. In Czech
Cubism however, almost all objects are
unusually appealing and authentic, so
any selection is a matter of originality,
personal taste and the popularity of
those objects.
IS THERE ANYTHING FROM THOSE
YEARS THAT YOU WOULD CALL
TYPICALLY CZECH?
All ‘Czech Cubism’ is typically Czech,
with an attempt at symbolism, and
perhaps a certain inelegance.
IF YOU WERE ON A DESERT ISLAND
AND COULD TAKE THREE OBJECTS
FROM THAT PERIOD WITH YOU,
WHICH ONES WOULD THEY BE?
Maybe the right object would be Goèár’s
chandelier, quite impractical, a reminder
of the extravagance of the civilisation
I had fled.