Sensus loci

Sensus loci (excerpt) by photographer Jan Vávra with music by Vladimír Hirsch (Catharsis from the album "Tobruk", 2008). Photos from Olšanské cemeteries, Prague, Czechia

A Brief history of Czech painting art

The development of art conjoined with Czechia started in Romanesque period. The oldest preserved and simultaneously most artistically important work of that time are murals in St. Catherine’s rotunda in Znojmo from 1134, exceptional in Romanesque art throughout Europe by focusing on the ideology of the state.

The decorative painting of manuscripts was very popular in both the Romanesque and the Gothic periods. The most exquisite work, which had not had an analogue in Central Europe at the time, was the Vyšehrad Codex (the Coronation Gospels of King Vratislaus).

In the Gothic Era, panel paintings was flourishing. The most important are works of Master of Vyšší Brod altar, the founder of the style, which dominated European painting around 1400. Other important personalities were Master of Třeboň altar and Master Theodoricus, the court painter of Charles IV, who filled the ruler's chapel of Holy Cross in Karlštejn castle by 130 paintings. The late gothic art with a Renaissance touch is represented by the work of Master of Litoměřice Altarpiece.

Master of Třeboň altar

Renaissance art came to Czechia with delay because of the consequences of Hussite wars in the country and influenced much more architecture, than other art.

The most important Czech masters of Baroque painting were Petr Brandl, the author of many large altarpieces, where all the characters are very vivid, often very emotional and always convincingly done, Jan Kupecký, who managed to perfectly capture the appearance of a person and his character traits in his portraits and Karel Škréta, excelled as a portrait painter and illustrator. An exceptional Czech artist of Baroque art was Václav Hollar, the etcher of worldwide recognition. His views of European cities, allegories and rich collection of graphic arts, depicting fauna and flora are unparalleled in the European art at that time.

Petr Brandl

Karel Škréta

Václav Hollar - Prague (c.1640)

The most important figure of classicist painting was Antonín Mánes. His work underwent a colorful evolution from composed classicist landscapes, romantically ragged scenery up with very realistic landscapes. Typical representants of the Romanticism are the mysterious Adolf Kosárek and the master of the color perfectionism Josef Navrátil. The Late phase of romanticism is represented by Josef Mánes, who is considered the founding personality of the Czech visual arts and master of the landscape painting. He is the author of allegorical boards of Astronomical Clock in Prague from 1866. The second half of the 19th century, dominated by artists of romantic realism, with predominantly nationally oriented topics such as František Ženíšek, Vojtěch Hynais (designer of the curtain of the Prague National Theatre), Karel Purkyně, Vaclav Brožík, Julius Mařák or Luděk Marold.

​The realistic period in fine arts comes with Antonín Chittussi. His own concept of landscapes seen in vivid terrain, in the disorderly segment of reality, and in the natural diffuse light. In particular, his smaller paintings with quick, easy brushstrokes belong to the jewels of Czech painting. The beginnings of the modern conception of landscape panting was substantially influenced by Antonín Slavíček.

His works perfectly expressed visual atmospheric phenomena, but also the inner substance of the landscape. Some kind of dark realism represents the melancholic atmosphere of the works of the painter of Prague night corners and social themes Jakub Schikaneder. Virtuoso painter, portraitist, illustrator and creator of stamps and banknotes, the author of several monumental works and the founder of Czech Graphic School, Max Švabinský, with realistic groundings of his extensive work has to be mentioned.

Max Švabinský - Poor country (detail)

Jakub Schikaneder - Murder in the house

Symbolism manifested itself in Czechia in mysterious paintings of Jan Preisler, combining influences of both symbolism and impressionism.

Jan Preisler - Black Lake

A kind of second wave of symbolism, is associated in Czechia with the Sursum society of modern Czech art, associated with mysticism, theosophy and occultism. Noteworthy are Jan Zrzavý, who later developed his art into mystically spiritual forms using unmistakeable meaning of expression and Josef Váchal, another mystical traveller into the ambivalent world with expressively - in the philosophical sense - joining visions.

Jan Zrzavý

Josef Váchal

When we speak about Art Nouveau, the name of Alfons Mucha, world famous and one of the best known Czech artist, echoes immediately. He is the main representative of Art Nouveau decorative painting, but his work contains also sculptures, various kinds of applied arts (jewelry and more) and photography. Awareness of this painter quickly spread beyond the borders of Czechia. In the 1890s he lived and worked in Paris. His posters became quickly well-known and his style influenced artists worldwide. He also managed to captivate the Parisian public with those dedicated to the celebrated actress Sarah Bernhardt and her Renaissance theater playbills and posters.

Created between 1910 and 1928, Alfons Mucha’s masterpiece is the cycle of 20 monumental canvases named The Slav Epic (Slovanská epopej), depicting the history of the Slavonic peoples and civilization and portray the “joys and sorrows” of his own nation, the Czechs.

Alfons Mucha - Slavic Epic / Initiation of Slavic Liturgy

One of the most important Czech painters ever is František Kupka (1871-1957). He is considered a pioneer of abstract art, influencing subtantially all modern painting movements. His geometric abstraction concept is called “orphism”. He expresses a musical rhythm through the motion of a colored line or the dynamic gradation of colored areas. František Kupka started as realistic painter and his abstract art arose gradually from that base. The most inspirational are “Amorpha: Fugue in Two Colours” in several versions and “Warm Chromatics”, works which were of fundamental importance for the birth of abstract art, “Amorpha” is considered the milestone of it. The painter completely abandoned the traditional world of figures and objects (in the spirit of "the role of artist is not to depict what we already see, but its invisible substance") and set out into the unexplored unknown, where the leading role is played only by colours, their strength and shapes, movement, mutual relations, harmony and composition.

František Kupka

Expressionism and Cuboexpressionism is associated in Czechia with Bohumil Kubišta, passionate exponent of modern art, building on his deep knowledge of optics and the physiology of vision, which he then applied and Antonín Procházka's distinctive work based on a feeling for beautiful painting material using old techniques of encaustic. Czech Cubism is represented by Emil Filla, who's work contains a strong reflection on both military conflicts and Josef Čapek, consisting of deep social feeling and humanism. Important modern-feeling landscape painters of the interwar period included Rudolf Kremlička, Václav Špála and already mentioned Jan Zrzavý. In addition to the world-famous personalities abstract painting in this period devoted several painters, for example, Vojtěch Preissig and František Foltýn.

Bohumil Kubišta

Antonín Procházka

Josef Čapek

Emil Filla

Czech surrealism is conjoined with painter, poet, editor, photographer, and graphic artist Jindřich Štyrský, Toyen (originally Marie Čermínová), who was a key figure in the surrealist avant-garde European art format with a great imagination of ghostly landscapes and Josef Šíma. His pictures introduce us to a mysterious stillness where rocks transform into living beings, floating weightlessly, while inanimate things generally take on human form. Another important painter, who initially created a new pictorial reality in the form of Lyrical Cubism, also later involved strong surrealist elements in his work was František Muzika.

Jindřich Štyrský

Toyen

František Muzika - Larvae

Global vision of destruction was encoded into the program of surrealistic group Ra. Its work was the most imaginative line of the Czech pre-war art, conjoined with names Václav Tikal, Bohdan Lacina and Josef Istler.

Josef Istler - Obraz 1947

World War II affected the nature of Czech art and caused a tendency toward experimentation in the new humanist subjects. Artists had to encrypt symbols because they were addressing a state of existential distress. After the Communist coup in 1948 the role and position of art became similar.

The effort of Group 42 (František Gross, Kamil Lhoták, Jan Kotik) to depict the role of man in modern civilization, which changes into a mere machine and steals his uniqueness. This group was mainly influenced by civilism, cubism, futurism, constructivism, and a bit by surrealism. There is typical an obvious and characteristic enchantment by technology, evident in frequent focus on cities, factories, industry, and machines with human characters of common townspeople. The group was established during war in 1942 and its activity ceased in 1948, but its influence on the Czech literature and the Czech art was still evident in further years.

In post-war art, however during 1950's hidden because of strong pressure of communist regime on artists to produce so called socialistic realism, they appeared several artists in Czechia, whose work was unique, but they became more known only in sixties, when political situation in the country allowed some kind of artistic freedom. Key figures of the Czech post-war art are Vladimír Boudník, a representative of the "explosionism" movement with active structural graphic art and

Mikuláš Medek, the most important Czech painter of post-war art in my opinion, starting with surrealistic influence, but gradually creating original symbolism of abstract sign systems with special shapes and colour language as metaphors for human existence in its tragic, picturesque and painful reality, but intensely thirsting for meaningful dimensions. Intense mystical expression, internal consistency, authenticity of the message, powerful spiritual energy radiating from his paintings, represent one of the most important and most original personalities of not only Czech, but also 20th Century painters. His artistic independence and spiritual dimensions were finely expressed, even during the Communist regime in this country, at a time of implacable hostility towards modern art and free thinking. More about this painter in my article at

Mikuláš Medek: Metaphysical transformation of Pain

Mikuláš Medek - The head sleeping an imperialist dream.

Mikuláš Medek - from the period of “preparad images"

Mikuláš Medek: Head - Lamp

Other important painters oriented in spirituality and mysticism in the huge critic relation to the state of human during communist times are Bohuslav Reynek and Josef Jíra.

To the most interesting works of contemporary artists belong drawings and paintings of Vladimír Kokolia, predominantly from eighties and beginning of nineties, some kind of caricature of contemporary human, but it is not only mockery or parody of the dark sides of humanity, is a genuine existential distress, featured by masterful shortcut into a categorical imperative.

(the extract of the article about Czech painting and sculpture)

Vladimír Hirsch 

Quora: "What the biggest contribution of Czechia to the world?

(Originally written Quora question: "What is the Czech Republic's biggest contribution to the world?")

The Czech Republic´s existence is only 25 years long and there is not anything special or substantial contribution to the world in the period between 1993 and today in my opinion.

But, Czechia´s - thus, the country in whole (both in contemporary and historical context) heritage is rich. What is the biggest one cannot judge. Everybody can choose :-)

1. Music - throughout more than one thousand years old history of Czechia - can be considered beneficial in both European and worldwide context, several times co-determined or determined a newly arriving era in musical art, above all in music of Classical era (Jan Václav Stamic, Jan K.Vaňhal, Josef Mysliveček, Antonín Rejcha), as well as by original attitudes in Baroque (Adam Michna, Jan Dismas Zelenka), Romantic era (Czech national music - Czech music school): Bedřich Smetana, in late Romanticism the greatest Czech composer Antonín Dvořák - among other things, the founder of American classical music and in Czechia born Gustav Mahler), and modern classical music (inimitable composer Leoš Janáček and Bohuslav Martinů), discovery in microtonal music (Alois Hába), high modern era (Miloslav Kabeláč, Petr Eben). More in my article: Czechia the heart of Europe | Music

2. Arts - in general, the Czech art is known worldwide for its individually made, mouth blown and decorated art glass and cut crystal, garnet and other gems jewelry, decorative and applied art. Painting: works of the Gothic era - Master of Vyšší Brod altar, the founder of the style, which dominated European painting around 1400. Baroque - An exceptional Czech artist Václav Hollar, the etcher of worldwide recognition. Art Nouveau and modernism - Alfons Mucha, world famous and one of the best known Czech artists. Abstract painting - František Kupka: a pioneer of abstract art, influencing substantially all modern painting movements. Interesting personalities in expressionism, cubism, and Cubo-expressionism, original post-war symbolism (Mikuláš Medek) and “explosionism” movement (Vladimír Boudník). Film and theatre: Karel Zeman, a pioneer with special effects (culminating in successful films such as artistically exceptional "Vynález zkázy" (A Deadly Invention, 1958); so-called Czech New Wave of the 1960s (linked with names of Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Jiří Menzel, Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos, Evald Schorm, Vojtěch Jasný, Juraj Herz, etc.) and director František Vláčil with the original manuscript and the deep psychological impact with the extraordinary high-quality art received international acclaim; Jan Švankmajer - a filmmaker, known for his animations and features, which greatly influenced artists worldwide. Original Czech cultural phenomenon came into being at the end of the 1950s. This project called Laterna magika (The Magic Lantern) considered the first multimedia art project in international context.

3. Literature - Comenius (philosopher and writer), the innovator who first introduced pictorial textbooks, F.Kafka - widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature, humorist J.Hašek (The Good Soldier Švejk - the book which was translated into 60 languages). Names as B.Hrabal, K.Čapek and M.Kundera cannot be forgotten. Poetism - Czech literary avant-garde style and movement in poetry (main representant Jaroslav Seifert, Nobel Prize holder).

4. Architecture - Czechia is the country with rich architectural heritage from the Romanesque period until modern times, being the place of origin of several unique styles - unique mixture of Romanesque and Gothic style represents St. Procopius Basilica in Třebíč, considered to be the most bizarre work of the European architecture of the 13th century, Czech Baroque due to its complexity and uniqueness became an independent concept art history, an architectural singleton is the Baroque Gothic style (Jan Blažej Santini), a specifically Czech architectural style, called ‘Rondo-Cubism’, came into existence after 1918. Together with the pre-war Czech Cubist architecture, it is unparalleled elsewhere in the world. There are also contemporary Czech architects whose works can be found all over the world, e.g. works of Jan Kaplický.

5. Science - Prokop Diviš: lightning rod inventor; Jan Evangelista Purkyně: anatomist and physiologist of the first half of 19th century, discoverer of Purkinje cells in the brain (1837), was the first to use a microtome to make wafer thin slices of tissue for microscopic examination. He is also known for his discovery in 1839 of Purkinje fibers, the fibrous tissue that conducts electrical impulses from the atrioventricular node to all parts of the ventricles of the heart. Other discoveries include Purkinje images, reflections of objects from structures of the eye, and the Purkinje shift, the change in the brightness of red and blue colors as light intensity decreases gradually at dusk. Purkyně also introduced the scientific terms plasma and protoplasm the substance found inside cells. He was one of the best-known scientists of his time. Josef Ressel: ships propeller inventor. Gregor Mendel: the founder of the modern science of genetics, in Czechia born and working; Bedřich Hrozný - orientalist and linguist who deciphered the ancient Hittite language and laid the groundwork for the development of Hittitology. Sigmund Freud, neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis; Jaroslav Heyrovský: the inventor of the polarographic method, father of the electroanalytical method. Otto Wichterle - inventor of soft contact lenses. Stanislav Grof: founder in the field of transpersonal psychology; Antonín Holý - chemist of world recognition, inventor of the most effective drugs in the fight against the AIDS epidemic.

6. Statesmen and influential personalities - St.Adalbert of Prague (in Czech svatý Vojtěch): Czech priest, bishop of Prague, who brought Christianity to nations of Central Europe - Hungarians, Poles, and Prussians. Přemysl Otakar II: Czech king, ruler of seven other countries, his reign stretched from Silesia to the Adriatic coast, founder of many towns and cities not only in Czechia, but in contemporary Poland and Prussia (13th century). Charles IV: Holy Roman Emperor. probably the most famous personality of the Czech state ever. He rebuilt the city of Prague as the capital of Central Europe and one of the intellectual and cultural centers of Europe. In 1348, he founded the Charles University in Prague, which was named after him and was the first university in Central Europe and third in Europe. Jan Hus - theologian, a Catholic priest, philosopher, who became a church reformer, an inspirer of Hussitism, a key predecessor to Protestantism and a seminal figure in the Czech Reformation (14–15th cent). King George of Poděbrady (Jiří z Poděbrad) - well known for his idea and attempt to establish common European institutions and supranational insignia. It is seen as the first historical vision of a European unity forgoing the European Union (15th century). Above mentioned Comenius (Jan Ámos Komenský) - inventor in educational systems, the theory of education, practical educational work, methods of education (17th cent.); Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk - the main personality of the founding of free modern Czech (and Slovak) democratic state in 1918

7. Soldiers - Jan Žižka: controversial Czech general, a contemporary and follower of Jan Hus, successful Hussite military leader (died 1424). He is considered to be among the greatest military leaders and innovators of all time. His accomplishments in this regard are especially unique and noteworthy as he had to quickly train peasants to repeatedly face highly trained and armored opponents who usually severely outnumbered his own troops, and for this, some have considered him to be the greatest general in history. Žižka developed tactics of using wagon forts, called vozová hradba in Czech (wagons fortification) as mobile fortifications, predecessors of tanks, with an original multifunctional armament of soldiers; Josef Václav Radecký (known internationally as Joseph Radetzky von Radetz): Czech nobleman and field marshal, chief of Austrian army (Czech lands were at that time a part of Austrian empire) who is considered one of the best commanders of 19th-century Europe. During his military career, he actively participated in the defeat of Napoleonic France and the reform of the army. Josef František - fighter pilot of World War II, the highest-scoring Allied ace in the Battle of Britain (1940)

8. products - Czech beer, worldwide known product of Pilsener (Plzeň/Pilsen - the city in the western part of Czechia) types of beers brewed by original technology using Czech raw materials (Bohemian hop); Bohemian glass - glass products made by original technologies, cutting-edge design and inimitable craftsmanship (incl.co-called Bohemian crystal - hand cut glass products). porcelain and jewelry, using own raw-materials, e.g.Bohemian garnet in the jewelry; Tamara and Věra radar system (passive sensor) of third generation, able to recognize targets of “stealth” type; Semtex worldwide known explosives; some original products of the Czech cuisine - above all pastries (salty and sweet as “koláče” & “buchty”), Czech finger sandwiches, Prague ham: a type of brine-cured, stewed, and mildly beechwood-smoked pork boneless ham, Shpikachki (špekáčky) - type of sausage, made from finely cured mixture of pork and beef with smoked bacon liner, Bohemian breaded dumplings, pickled sausages (called “utopenci”, which means “drowned”) and fishes (“zavináče”), cheeses and vegetables (well known Znojmo pickled cucumbers), beer cheese, ripened cheeses (well known “Olomoucké tvarůžky” etc.), Czech potato pancakes, etc.; liquors - Wallachian “Slivovice”: strong plum brandy and “Becherovka”: sweet herbal liqueur from Karlovy Vary.

9. Czech words, which became international - robot (invented by Karel Čapek in his stage-play R.U.R., derived from the word “robota”, which was a compulsory unpaid work for landowners in the past), pistol (from Czech word “píšťala”), houfnice (English “howitzer”), polka, dollar (from Czech word “tolar”), hocus-pocus, tunel (in the sense of “tunnel the bank” - to rob the bank's assets by transferring money elsewhere by its own owners)

10. Sportsmen - football: Josef Bican, the greatest goalscorer of football history in Europe (and probably in whole world), Emil Zátopek - long-distance runner, only person to win the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres, and marathon in the same Olympics, Věra Čáslavská - seven Olympic gold medals holder in gymnastics, all in individual events, which is an all-time record among female Olympians, Martina Navrátilová - tennis player, arguably the best female tennis player of all time, multiple winner of women's singles title at Wimbledon, Jaromír Jágr - ice hockey player, the best European player in the history of Canadian-American National Hockey League, ranking overall 2nd in points, third in goal scores, and first in the number of game-winning goals in all history of NHL.

(I hope that the other great personalities of Czechia I did not mention will forgive me) :-)

                                                                                                    Vladimír Hirsch (Quora, 2018)

Subpop Squeeze - Anacreontics

Subpop Squeeze / Anacreontics

Thematic album of the project, which is an alter ego of Vladimír Hirsch. Dark-electro-industrial-thrash synthesis. Created between 2014 and 2016. Recorded at CatchArrow Recordings studio, Prague, Czechia. CD released by E-Klageto/PsychKG, Germany.

Musicians & participants: Vladimír Hirsch - electronic keyboards, synthesizers, samplers, digital technology, Nadya Feir - vocals, El - vocals, Timothy Simmons - recitation, David Icke - spoken word. Production & lyrics by Tom Saivon. Photography & artwork by Gelso Nero & Jan Vávra. Product manager: Martina Sanollová

Conceptual work, named intentionally gracefully after ancient Greek genre of "songs about love and wine", but created with obvious sarcastic and mocking undertone both in musical processing in style, called dark-electro-industrial-thrash synthesis (T.Saivon), with critical, sometimes almost cynical texts, however verbal component plays mainly the role of background. Rock principle of thrash metal characteristics and electronics are surrounded by industrial and dark ambient soundscapes. 

Tracks:
1 Derm
2 Obsessive Tap
3 Discharge
4 And All Love Dead
5 Thanatic
6 Neikothropy
7 Burning Tongues
8 Transient Spell
9 Scratch
10 Roaring Secrets
11 Shy Of The Light

The album released on March 23, 2017 by E-Klageto (A Division of Psych.KG), Germany (cat.no. Exklageto 16). 

Order: psychkg@online.de 
+ via PayPal on http://www.vladimirhirsch.com/e_menu.html#Anacreontics, http://www.vladimirhirsch.com/cz_menu.html#Anacreontics
or on mail adresses vladimir.hirsch@gmail.com.

Vladimír Hirsch as Subpop Squeeze

Website : Czechia - The Heart Of Europe

Webpage "Czechia - The Heart Of Europe" about geography, history, arts, music literature, sports and tourism of Czechia with photographs, videos and educational section.

Emi Rizzi: Acousmatics - "Behind Pythagoras' Black Veil"

.......Vladimír Hirsch started out as a classical/romantic composer from an early age, switched to rock/punk as he became a teenager but then started applying his classical knowledge of music onto electronic and analog music, which resulted in him forming his own style of industrial music.

Vladimír Hirsch

 The best example of the industrial style of Avant-Garde he developed is the composition called “Iscariot.” Very dark synth sounds , unnatural and almost grotesque voices (like sounding to construction workers over a PA), and mechanized sounds (machinery working, pressure whistles, etc.) constructthe „dark ambient‟ sub-genre he is well known for. This is also present in his “VII. Ritual Of Betrayal” which is less on the „conventional Avant-Garde‟ side. It is very rhythmical and seems more like straightforward action-movie background-music for the constant percussion rhythm (although, this may be industrial sound-design made to sound like a drum-set). However, the audience is presented with dissonant chords and other unidentifiable sounds alongside threatening (in timbre as well as in content) voiceover male-vocals, but the piece finally switches back to a more Avant-Garde-style at around 3:43 minutes in, until a beautiful melodic section is introduced; demonstrating that he has not forgotten his classical training. Many of his works feature a combination of dark dissonant drones, unusual chords (diminished fifth/augmented fourth intervals, among others), but most importantly: industrial sounds. Sounds that have been taken from the real world and ‟spewed out‟  again through sound editing, to get exactly the sound he wanted. Pierre Schaeffers influences, as a musician in addition to being a supplier of the concept of acousmatics, are obvious when comparing Hirsch‟s and Schaeffer‟s music.  (See “Etude aux chemins de fer” or “Études de bruit” by Pierre Schaeffer where there are an abundance of industrial-like sounds as seen

in most of Hirsch‟s works, such as “La Dernière Défense” –  where the sounds are slowed down, but still present) Also, see “Jericho” for an example of a composition by Hirsch without industrial sounds, but made only with synthesizers. All his non-classical and non-punk band works, all the Avant-Garde works he is better known for, contain the same themes and motifs based around machinery and other sound-concepts that have a relationship to the industrial. His, almost 40-minute long, “Part II. Contemplatio per affirmationem” features this, as do most of the others mentioned above. 

Vladimír Hirsch - Contremplatio Per Nexus

Taken from Emi Rizzi - Avant-Garde (Assignment 2), Academia

Independent.Academia.Edu, San Francisco, CA , USA, 2014