CZECH GLASS
Sylva Petrová

 Czech Glass is the first publication of this scope to explain the key factors and circumstances of the development of this world phenomenon – Czech individual glassmaking - over the past 55 years. The author, Sylva Petrová, a world-renowned authority in the field of modern glass and currently professor at the University of Sunderland, England, has drawn on her 15 years professional and personal experience of Czech glass as well as on much little-known archival material and the reminiscences of glassmakers themselves. A major feature of the book are the contributions by some thirty leading photographers, headed by Gabriel Urbánek (a total of 339 illustrations), and the graphic artist Rostislav Vaněk. The book, which includes extensive documentary material is published in a Czech and English version by Jaroslav Kořán’s Gallery publishing house in collaboration with Prague’s Museum of Applied Arts and the International Institute for Glass Research at the University of Sunderland.

The book received first prize in the competition
"The Most Beautiful Book of the Year 2001"

Gallery price: CZK 1.140
Recommended sales price: CZK 1.900

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The Metamorphosis 
of Ladislav Novák
Jiří Valoch 

After prestigious publications focused on the work of Jiří Kolář, Gallery has published a monograph of another author who, having said good-by to the traditional writing, started to systematically explore new communication possibilities of the methods he had discovered. Ladislav Novák, one the "great lonely authors", brought new unmistakable qualities to the Czech modern art. He reacted to civilisation phenomena with an urgency of that time and developed certain aspects previously formed by the Group 42. Ladislav Novák did not follow any trends of his time even though he contributed to formation of some of them, particularly at the early stage of his work. It was important for him to cross boundaries between the visual arts and literature and between the traditional art categories in general. He was truly interested in all approaches that gave him a chance to discover new ways of artistic communication. In his complex monographic study of Ladislav Novák's life and work, Jiří Valoch, an art theorist, evaluated his many years' friendship with Novak that allowed him to get to the sources of the artist's thoughts and quests. The book includes a detail biography and bibliography and particularly 140 colour reproductions and other documentary photographs incorporated in the text, including documentation of some Novak's projects in the nature. The book was published on the occasion of an exhibition organised under the same name by Gallery and the National Gallery in Prague in the Kinski Pallace at the Old Town Square from March 29th till July 21st, 2002.

The book received second prize in the competition
"The Most Beautiful Book of the Year 2002"

bound., 330 x 245 mm, 222 p., hardback with a dust jacket, 
ISBN 80-86010-50-1

Price Gallery: CZK 714.00
Recommended sales price: CZK 1190.00 

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Max Švabinský, “Paradise and Myth”
Jana Orlíková and a team of authors

Hand-in-hand with the exhibition, the representative book accompanied by a reduced catalogue, published on the occasion of the exhibitions in the Wallenstein Riding-School (2001) and the Moravian Gallery in Brno (2002), aims to pick holes in the traditional clichés related to the perception of Švabinský’s work. Jana Orlíková, the author of both the book and the exhibition’s concept, in co-operation with other authors, Jana Wittlichová, Evžen Růžička and Karel Urbánek, prepared a comprehensive monograph of the whole Švabinský’s life and work including a range of archive materials and detail documentation.  The picture part consists of reproductions of oil paintings and drawings that are distinctly complemented by pieces of graphic arts and window-pane and monumental work designs. The book’s ambition is not to document everything Švabinský created but to present a concentration of all what is both thematically and formally interesting and of a good-quality. Stress is put on the work till the year 1922 and the décor of the St. Vitus’s Cathedral.  

173 pages, 284x240 mm, hard binding, 
Gallery price: CZK 713.40
Recommended sales price: CZK 1189.00

ISBN: 80—86010—49—X

catalogue: 71 pages, 225x207 mm, unbound, 
Gallery price: CZK 198.00
Recommended sales price: CZK 330.00

ISBN: 80—86010—50—3

  Out of Stock

 In the introduction to the book, the architectural historian and theorist Rostislav Švácha elaborates, in highly readable form, a concise description of the history and circumstances surrounding the emergence of architectural Cubism, supplemented with relevant citations and pictorial documentation.  The following sections of the publication are devoted to individual monographic portraits of selected Cubist structures, attesting to the diversity of the formal vocabulary of architectonic Cubism and documenting the course of this unique style’s development.  An inseparable component of the book, in addition to the exceptional typographic design by Clara Istlerová, are the photographs by Jan Malý, depicting the structures in their present form, with great attention paid to individual details.  

(The book received first prize in the competition 
“The Most Beautiful Book of the Year 2000”.)

ISBN: 80-86010-35-X, format 316 x 231 mm, 216 pages, 
hardcover binding with dust jacket

 Recommended retail price: CZK 1.280

Out of Stock

  This collection of photographs, by the renowned Czech photographer Jan Reich, takes as its subject the forgotten corners of the Prague periphery; in addition to its aesthetic interest, the series is of great documentary value, as the photographs themselves were taken between 1972 and 1979, and hardly any of the locations depicted here presently survive in their original form.  Primarily pictorial, the publication is supplemented with a foreword by Josef Kroutvor.

ISBN: 80-8610-25-2, format 297 x 218 mm, 84 pages,
hardcover binding with dust jacket 

Recommended retail price: CZK 440

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Jean Arthur Rimbaud, Letters of a Seer (Czech)

These two letters of J-A Rimbaud, addressed to G. Izambard and P. Demeny, were translated into Czech and annotated by Miroslav Topinka, the author as well of the afterward.  A central part of the publication are the illustrations by V. Gebauer.  Included in the appendix are the original French texts of both letters.

ISBN: 80-86010-34-1, format 208 x 145 mm, 
30 pages, paperback

Recommended retail price: CZK 200

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Life in Black and White
Milena Černá, Eva Davidová, Karel Holomek, Jana Horváthová, Milena Hübschmannová, Zdeňka Jařabová, Ctibor Nečas

(Czech / English)

“The book emerged over a period of many years, and became a kind of appeal in many situations to confront us in our lives during those years.  Consequently, we have published it with the aim of affirming the common bonds between the Roma and the other citizens of the Czech state.  Recognition dispels fear, suspicion, and prejudice.” (from the foreword by Milena Černá, director of the Committee of Good Will).

Alongside texts by the foremost authorities of Romany history, language, and culture are, in addition to contemporary documents, the photographs of Jindřich Streit, E. Davídková, and J. Kořán.

Published for the Committee of Good Will – Olga Havlová Foundation.

 ISBN: 80-86010-37-6, format 275 x 240 mm, 176 pages,
paperback

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A collection of written and photographic documentation from 1962 - 1997, put together by the artist himself from material surviving in his own archive. The texts include for example: 

1st Manifesto of aktual art, 1964 

and 

Principles of action art according to Milan Knížák.

Individual actions, of which roughly a hundred were captured in the book by different me-thods, are recalled in chronological order, which simultaneously allows important stages in the art and life of the author to emerge, beginning with actions in the street Nový svět in Prague and in the United States of America, through a concise history of the Aktual Community, to actions in Germany up to the recent paraphrasing of older actions.

ISBN: 80-86010-26-0 a 80-860210-27-9 format 167 x 231 mm, 334 pages, paperback

RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE: CZK 820

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The catalogue published on the occasion of a touring retrospective exhibition prepared by the Mikuláš Aleš Gallery of South Bohemia contains, in addition to a detailed text, a number of full-page coloured reproductions of collages and a detailed biography of the author. The cata-logue and the exhibition present Ivo Medek (Kopaninský) for the first time in the context of his whole extensive work, better known to a circle of the artist's acquaintances than to art theoreticians. We are moreover reminded by the text and pictures of Medek's "auteur" me-thod of collage, expanding its previous expressive possibilities by linking photography with painting or with the forms of three-dimensional collage.

ISBN: 80-86010-33-3, format 275 x 240 mm, 69 pages, paperback

RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE: CZK 320

The catalogue of the exhibition prepared in cooperation with the National Galle-ry in Prague was published on the occasion of the reprise in the Moravian Galle-ry in Brno. The text by Josef Hlaváček and the biographical and bibliographic information put together by Vladimír Karfík are taken from the monograph of the same name and furnished with an English translation by Gerald Turner. However, unlike the monograph, the catalogue is supplemented by reproducti-ons of the works, of which on this occasion some were exhibited and reproduced for the first time. Included in the catalogue is a list of exhibited works indica-ting the differences in the collections installed in Prague and in Brno.

ISBN: 80-86010-30-9, format 275 x 240 mm, 81 pages paperback

RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE: CZK 420

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An account of a hundred years in the life of the capital city, spanning the Austrian monarchy, the first World War, the birth of the independent state and its two short decades of existence, the German occupation, the post-war re-creation of Czechoslovakia, the period following the Communist putsch in February 1948, the relaxation that came towards the end of the Sixties, the invasion of the Warsaw Pact Forces , the so-called period of „normalisation“, and the era that began with the „Velvet Revolution“ of November1989. Historical events are illustrated by a wealth of unique pictorial material from the archive of Jan Kaplan, the English documentary film-maker of Czech origin who for many years has been collecting Pragensia of every kind from all over the world. This includes not only photographic collections, historic literature, posters and magazines, but also such everyday items as maps, calendars, postcards, and commercial and advertising material.

(Chosen as Photographic Publication of the Year 1999.)

format 325 x 235 mm, 256 pages, hardback with cover

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1998 was the 380th anniversary of the beginning of the first all-European conflict, in which the Czech lands and their capital city Prague played a significant role. In 1618 the Czech Estates Revolt (the second Prague Defenestration) broke out in Prague, an event with consequences of European proportions. The last significant military operation of the war also took place here: the taking of Prague Castle and the Lesser Town by Swedish troops, and the siege of the Old and New towns in 1648. The authors do not examine the phenomenon of the Thirty Years War solely from the perspective of military history, however, but concern themselves equally with the cultural and spiritual life of the period. They illuminate episodes of war by contrasting them with peaceful times, everyday life and outstanding events. The text is accompanied by photographs of artefacts documenting the standard of living of those days, from perfume bottles to funeral escutcheons of Prague guilds; from children´s toys to university theses and proto-newspaper chapbooks.

(The book won third prize in the Most Beautiful Book of the Year competition 1998.)

format 235 x 235 mm, 256 pages, hardback with cover

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This book attracted great attention at the time of a recent exhibition devoted to the era of Rudolf II. The authors document the remarkable burgeoning of culture that took place in Prague under the government of that inspiring sovereign. They also discuss the fate of the emperor's valuable collections after his death.

(The book won two third prizes in the Most Beautiful Book of the Year competition 1997.)    

format 235 ( 235 mm, 256pages, hardback with cover

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A lexicon describing and defining the collage methods of Jiří Kolář. Since the texts accompanying each pictorial example are the work of the author himself, are markable unity of picture and text results. The origins of the book go back to the 1960s. Thanks to the addition of further examples, the first Czech edition is more extensive than the French version published in Revue K in 1991. The original works to which the text referred were inaccessible at the time because of Kolář´s exile, so the present pictorial section consists of collages created subsequently to illustrate the procedures described. The dictionary has been exhibited on its own in a number of galleries around the world.

The original texts to the Czech edition were written by Vladimír Karfík and Gilbert Lascaut.

format 325 x 235 mm, 248 pages, hardback with cover

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A study devoted to one of the few world-renowned Czech artists, published in conjunction with the Czech edition of Kolař´s Dictionary of Methods, and also on the occasion of a retrospective exhibition of his work at the National Gallery in Prague, which Gallery helped organise. The extensive text follows the development of Kolař's unique oeuvre - in which word and picture are inseparably bonded - from the perspective of both literary theory and the history of art. A collection of full-page reproductions documents the origins and progression of Kolař´s original collage techniques, intertwining visual and verbal poetry, and the entire range of themes dealt with by the artist. A key section of the book consists of detailed documentation of the artist´s life and works.

(The book won 2^nd prize in the Most Beautiful Book of the Year competition 1999.)

format 325 x 235 mm, 284 pages, hardback with cover

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A revealing study of a painter and illustrator whose popularity has not waned in the decades since his death, as witness the constant reprinting of his books and illustrations, and a recent exhibition devoted to his work in the Riding School Gallery of Prague Castle. The author concentrates on Lada's childhood, the development of his talent, his gradual establishment in the art world, his activity as an illustrator, and his masterpieces.

format 300 x 220mm, 208 pages, hardback with cover

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format 240 x 200 mm, 96 pages, paperback

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An extensive study of the life's work of this painter, critic and theorist, a member of the“12/15“ group. In addition to full-page colour reproductions, it includes texts by Jaromír Zemina, Josef Kroutvor, Marie Klimešová and other art theorists who evaluate Pavlik´s work in the context of Czech art. The book also contains excerpts of texts already printed in specialist publications. The critical and theoretical work of Petr Pavlik, which first attracted attention in the mid-nineties, when he ended his artistic activities, is a key focus of the book, and illustrates the artist´s enormous versatility.

 format 315 x 240mm, 252 pages, hardback with cover

The book won second prize 
in the Most Beautiful Book of the Year competition 2000.

Out of Stock

Karel Trinkewitz is one of the Czech experimental artists associated in the sixties with Jiří Kolář, and a founder member of the Club of Concretists. His work embraces poetry, prose, drawing, illustration and above all, collage. This booklet documents the development of the artist´s methods, spanning the Sixties, his forced emigration and the present day.

275 x 240 mm, 122 pages, paperback Czech-German edition

Gallery published this monograph in conjunction with an exhibition by sculptor Libor Krejcar in Prague's Mánes Gallery. It presents the artist´s oeuvre over the past two decades, during which it has achieved a formal and thematic unity of great richness. Iron and wooden sculptures, relief castings, cut-out wooden structures, landscapes made of wood waste and burnt-out drawings, combine to create an impressive cycle. The book is divided into sections displaying the sculptor´s contrasting methods: perfectly carved shapes alongside works using wood waste, and the intermingling of seriousness and playfulness. The extensive set of 60 colour photographs accompanies texts by Olaf Hanel, Ivan M. Jirous and Jan Rous, and poems by Vratislav Brabenec.

format275 x 240 mm, 80 pages, paperback

format 325 x 240 mm, 256 pages, hardback with cover