iMuseum KampaMalá Strana
Mikuláš Medek, Jan Koblasa – In Defiance
Photographs by Jiří Hampl with works by Medek and Koblasa from 1959-63, marking Medek's centenary and commemorating a 1963 Teplice show of existential abstract art suppressed under communist rule.
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In August 1963, about 400 people a day went through Teplice Castle to see two painters and sculptors the regime had kept out of public view. Then the state-controlled press condemned the show. It had only happened because the cultural official Čestmír Císař briefly eased ideological control.
Museum Kampa rebuilds that exhibition from Jiří Hampl's photographs of the original hang. You get 12 of the Medek paintings shown in Teplice, 13 more Medek works lent by public and private collections, and Koblasa's sculptures and painting cycles. Where a 1963 work couldn't be borrowed, a piece from the same years stands in, and the labels give catalogue numbers for what was in the original. Curators rebuilding a room from old photos is you working out Saturday night from six blurry camera-roll shots.
The show marks Medek's centenary and runs until 17 January 2027. The museum is open daily 10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:30. Its standard adult ticket is 200 CZK, though pricing varies by exhibition.
Editor's pick
Works by Medek and Koblasa from 1959 to 1963, with Jiří Hampl's photographs, recall a 1963 Teplice show of abstract art that the regime suppressed. It marks Medek's centenary.
Look for
The twelve Teplice paintings
Medek's canvases that hung in the 1963 castle show, placed according to Hampl's photographs of that display.
Jiří Hampl's photographs
The record of the original installation, which is what made the reconstruction possible.
Catalogue numbers on the labels
The museum flags which works were in the 1963 catalogue, so you can tell original pieces from same-period stand-ins.
Koblasa's sculptures and painting cycles
Assembled to mirror his part of the Teplice show, alongside Medek's paintings.
Good for
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
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Image credits
9
- Mikuláš Medek, Jan Koblasa – In DefianceCourtesy of Museum Kampa
- New Caledonia: An Archipelago at a CrossroadsCourtesy of Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures
- Familiar and Unfamiliar VietnamCourtesy of Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures
- Vojta Náprstek ReloadedCourtesy of Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures
- Museum KampaHynek Moravec (Wikimedia Commons), CC BY 2.5
- Czech Museum of MusicAktron / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Franz Kafka MuseumDobroš, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American CulturesVachovec1 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- National Gallery Prague – Wallenstein Riding SchoolVitVit, CC BY-SA 4.0