Suppressed Modernity. Illusions and Dreams. Central European Art from the Collection of Patrik Šimon

The publication is an in-depth probe into the relations between Czech and German art from the late 19th century to the 1930s. The authors trace the gaps in the discontinuous development of modern and avant-garde art while zeroing in also on individual displays of distinct styles and content in an effort to discover what the true essence of both the traditional and the avant-garde concepts of Central European culture truly was and whether the purported stylistic incompatibility of these two streams was internally determined by that or was artificially formed under the pressure of the sublimated problems of ethnic minorities in the increasingly differentiating Czech-German-Jewish society of contemporary Bohemia and Moravia. The end of the century is covered in a deliberately diffuse look at decadence, symbolism, and secessionism (e.g. F. Kupka, V. Preissig, L. Marold, F. Kobliha, J. Konůpek, F. Gellner). Pursued in contrast the authors also present the story of Czech-German and Jewish artistic enclaves that were shaped not just by their home environment (A. Brömse, W. Hablik, E. von Kahler, G. Kars, M. Kopf, E. Orlik) but also by their cosmopolitan experiences. The book also takes into account and functionally incorporates into the story examples of work by major names in the established art scene in Europe (G. Klimt, E. Munch, Al. Kubin, M. Klinger, K. Kollwitzová, O. Mueller, J. Pascin).
This epic and visually striking publication has two separate Czech and German editions and is richly illustrated with selected works from the collection of Patrik Šimon.