Anna Habánová

"Edler Wettstreit der beiden Völker." Die Anfänge der Tätigkeit der Reichenberger Kreisgruppe des Metznerbundes, die Oktobergruppe und Erwin Müller

The organisational activities of German-speaking fine artists from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia in interwar Czechoslovakia were centred on the Metznerbund - the association of German fine artists in the Czech lands. This group formed in Teplice in 1920 and it moved its base to whatever town its chair resided in. In the first half of the 1920s it was based in Liberec, a major German centre in Bohemia. An exhibition hall was set up there with the support of the city council in Liberec, and the Liberec branch of the association began publishing a Metznerbund journal. In October 1922 a generation of young and upcoming painters and graphic artists established Oktobergruppe. The group's most prominent member was Erwin Müller, whose work was from the outset influenced by Expressionism and especially by the realist tendencies of New Objectivity. Some unavoidable questions arise when studying the work of the members of Metznerbund. One such question relates to the significance of German-Czech fine art - and not just that of the interwar period - in Czech art history. As yet there is no clear answer to this, and there are several reasons why: Metznerbund had no art jury - largely every German-speaking artist from Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia was a member, and as a result there is some unevenness to the quality of work of the group's members. Of more importance, however, is the question of what influence the political and national tensions, especially in the 1930s, now have on how this group and its members are viewed. Answers to these and other questions can only be obtained from a relevant assessment of the association's work. This article stands at the threshold of such research.

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