Jiří Bernard Krtička

Josef Váchal o nutnosti a zbytečnosti umění

‘About Art’ is the title of a lecture by Josef Váchal from the first half of the 1930s which presents the most essential and comprehensive summary of his thoughts about the nature of art. He described what was going on in art in his day as a conflict between two broadly defined, contradictory streams, between conservative and avant-garde art. Adopting an independent and non-conformist standpoint, Váchal does not identify with either of the two opposing camps and subjects both of them to sarcastic criticism. He engages in a remarkable polemic with the Czech avant-garde of the period, and especially with Cubism, supporting his views with little discussed, but material and substantive arguments about its derived nature and dependence on imported models, the compromises being made to professional quality in the quest for quick success, and above all the loss of the sense that the content of art is significant. An emphasis on the spiritual dimension of an artwork and a rejection of superficial formalism equates Váchal with other representatives of the so-called second Symbolist generation (František Kobliha, Jan Konůpek, and Jan Zrzavý). However, surprising parallels can also be found in the correspondence and theoretical reflections of Bohumil Kubišta, one of the protagonists of the pre-war avant-garde. In the role of an artist standing outside contemporary trends, Josef Váchal also reflects in the lecture on the functions and state of art criticism in his day and accuses it of lacking in erudition and objectivity, of tendentiousness and cliquishness, and of being fixated on the surface of artworks. Official art criticism is claimed to have compromised itself not just professionally but also morally with its tendency towards corruption. Váchal counters this by defending the right to a free artistic opinion and he is quick to designate artists the only individuals competent to evaluate their work. Like Váchal’s other writings, the text of this lecture bears a strong subjective imprint: it goes beyond the frame of theoretical reflections to become the personal confession of an artist with an independent spirit and an exceptional, genuine individualism.

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