Lucia Kvočáková

Exhibition 'Old Art in Slovakia'. A Spectacular Show Between Politics and National Identity

This study looks at the exhibition Staré umění na Slovensku (Old Art in Slovakia), which took place in 1937 at Prague and was an unprecedented cultural event focused on the artistic heritage of Slovakia. e exhibition is interpreted not only as a significant art-historical undertaking, but primarily as a powerful instrument of the first Czechoslovak Republic’s cultural policy. Organised amidst growing geopolitical tensions, its elaborate staging, thematic orientation and strong political backing aimed to reinforce the idea of Czechoslovak unity on both the domestic and international stages. Drawing on surviving exhibition materials, its contemporary reception and archival sources, the article foregrounds the institutional and ideological framework that shaped the event. Particular aMention is paid to the so-called territorial conception of art history adopted by Czech art historians working in Slovakia at the time. is concept allowed Slovak artworks to be framed as part of a broader transnational Central European cultural tradition, subordinating ethnic and national distinctions to a universalist vision of cultural continuity — one rooted in the Vienna School of Art History. e exhibition thus functioned as a vehicle for the “de-Hungarianisation” of Slovak cultural monuments and their incorporation into the Czechoslovak national narrative. In contrast, the Slovak reception of the exhibition, initially critical, gradually reinterpreted it as a demonstration of a distinct Slovak cultural identity. is study reflects on the divergent Czech and Slovak approaches to national identity, revealing the exhibition as a contested space in which the official narrative of Czechoslovak unity confronted the rising tide of Slovak cultural emancipation.

Author's email:

kvocakova@udu.cas.cz

DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.54759/ART-2025-0202

Full-text in the Digital Library of the Czech Academy of Sciences:
https://kramerius.lib.cas.cz/uuid/uuid:776f139d-03c3-4be9-a813-58d6abf64e3d_1

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