CLUES FOR LESSONS IN THE CARICATURE OF CUBISM

MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE ARTS IN PRAGUE 1

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CHARACTERISTIC

FEATURES

OF MODERN

CARICATURE:

DEFORMATION

EXAGGERATION

AUTONOMOUS

MEANS OF

EXPRESSION

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DEFINITION

OF CARICATURE

CLUES FOR LESSONSIN THE CARICATURE

OF CUBISM

Exemplified by Czech works, the Les-

sons in Caricature — Cubism exhibi-

tion examines the way artists special-

izing in humoristic illustrations and

satirical drawings responded to both

real and fictitious Cubist works. The

exhibition also explores how modern

caricature (characterized by deforma-

tion, exaggeration and autonomous

means of expression) was used in the

search for new art forms. Moreover,

it shows portrait caricatures of mem-

bers of the Group of Fine Artists, as

well as satirical drawings and carica-

tures produced by the Czech Cubists

themselves.

Tomáš Winter, the exhibition curator

Dear visitors:The term “caricature” comes from the

Latin “caricare”, meaning “to load, exag-

gerate”. There are many defi nitions of

the word “caricature”. We have chosen

the following:

“Caricature is a succinctly ridiculing or

satirically condemning artistic or liter-

ary representation of certain features of

a person, human behaviour or important

social events achieved through the ex-

aggeration of their prominent elements;

or a poorly rendered appearance or

imitation, an artificial distortion.”

Nový akademický slovník cizích slov, Praha 2005

Use this worksheet to walk through the

exhibition. You can get more informa-

tion about any of the depicted Cubist

artists in the tablets installed in the

Czech Cubism exhibition room on the

third fl oor.

Enjoy yourselves

Your Museum

“The secret

of caricature is

exaggeration of course”

Joseph Ferdinand Keppler

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Dr. Desiderius

(Hugo Boettinger):

Cubist Locomotive

Šibeničky, Vol. II, 1919,

No. 10

CLUES FOR LESSONS IN THE CARICATURE OF CUBISMCLUES FOR LESSONS IN THE CARICATURE OF CUBISM

MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE ARTS IN PRAGUE 2 3

In 1913, Zdeněk Kratochvíl created

a caricature called Lessons in

Cubism. The drawing was intended

for Umělecký měsíčník (Art Monthly),

a magazine published by Skupina

výtvarných umělců (Group of Fine

Artists) that played a crucial role in

the development of Cubism in the

Czech lands. The sketch parodied

not only the conservative critical

reviews of this art movement

that radically changed the visual

representation of reality, but Cubism

itself. These two aspects appear

more frequently where Cubism is

related to caricature.

Tomáš Winter

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Wouldn’t the advertiser

wish to register under

the mark “K.B.M.”?*

If he did so, he could be

given the following les-

sons in Cubism:

Lesson One:

a. The face is flattened

into a plane

b. The loss of national

emblems

* Karel Boromejský Mádl

(1859–1932)

Czech historian

and art critic

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Lesson Two:

a. Hewing the other

limbs into pyramidal

shapes

b. Deformation

of the intrinsic

primeval essence

Lesson Three:

Turning and twisting

along a variety of axes

and organization of

cubes in paintings in

chosen directions

Lesson Four: Moral:

Rather than in the fee,

we are interested in

being treated well

Umělecký měsíčník II,

1913

Zdeněk Kratochvíl:

Jolly Corner V.

Lessons in Cubism: “The Slow-Witted Sub-

scriber”, or The Punished Rubberneck

The following ad was recently printed in the

National Gazette:

“I am looking for an artist or art critic, who

would reliably explain to me the new art trends

in Czech and foreign painting, or rather, who

would teach me to decipher the charades of

the recent issues of the Volné směry (Free

Currents) and Umělecký měsíčník (Art Monthly)

magazines.”

Don’t forget to stop at

the slide show of Zdeněk

Kratochvíl’s caricatures

that appeared in the Jolly

Corner column of Umělecký

měsíčník issued in 1912–1914.

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THEMES

IN CARICATURE:

MODERN ART

MOVEMENTS

(IN THIS CASE,

CUBISM)

CLUES FOR LESSONS IN THE CARICATURE OF CUBISMCLUES FOR LESSONS IN THE CARICATURE OF CUBISM

MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE ARTS IN PRAGUE 54

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Zdeněk Kratochvíl

(1883–1961)

Painter, printmaker,

caricaturist

He studied at the

Academies of Fine Arts

in Prague and Munich, in

1929 he was appointed

professor at the School

of Applied Arts in

Prague. He worked as

a caricaturist for the

magazines Šibeničky,

Kopřivy and Kmen, and

also contributed to Lidové

noviny. He illustrated

a great many, mostly

humorous, books and

published several studies

on 19th- and 20th-

century painters.

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THEMES

IN CARICATURE:

SELF-PORTRAITS

Zdeněk Kratochvíl:

Self-Caricature

(At the Exhibition of the

Group of Fine Artists)

1914

Pen and ink on pasteboard

Reproduced from:

Ondřej Chrobák – Tomáš

Winter (ed.), V okovech smíchu.

Karikatura a české umění

1900–1950, Praha 2006

“Now, this is simply too much.As long as I painted in earnest, they poked fun

at me, and now that I begin poking fun,they take me in earnest.”

Professor Zdeněk Kratochvíl

photo: Václav Chochola

© Archiv B & M Chochola

Zdeněk Kratochvíl:

Self-Caricature with the Artist’s Wife

c. 1930

Pencil on paper

Reproduced from:

Ondřej Chrobák – Tomáš Winter (ed.),

V okovech smíchu. Karikatura a české

umění 1900–1950, Praha 2006

Reproduced from

www.encyklopediebrna.cz

DRAW A SIMPLE CARICATURE

OF YOURSELF

Sit down at the table and have a good look

at yourself in the mirror.

— Notice your main features, such as the shape of your head, nose, lips,

eyes, eyebrows and hair, and the way they interrelate.

— Decide what feature is the most typical of you and exaggerate it in your

drawing.

— But don’t forget: although caricatures are based on deformation and

exaggeration, they still respect the actual appearance of the portrayed

person.

— As for the technique of the drawing: the caricature is simple, the less

lines the better – your drawing should be only linear, with no shading.

— You can add an object that characterizes the activity you like doing

and that distinguishes you.

If you don’t feel like drawing here, try it at home.

Well done – does your drawing look like you?

CLUES FOR LESSONS IN THE CARICATURE OF CUBISMCLUES FOR LESSONS IN THE CARICATURE OF CUBISM

MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE ARTS IN PRAGUE 6 7

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THEMES

IN CARICATURE:

WORKS OF ART

PORTRAITS

OF NOTED

PERSONALITIES

SOCIAL AND

POLITICAL EVENTS

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THEMES

IN CARICATURE:

ARCHITECTURE

Karel Vavřina:

Views of Prague Once the Cubists Begin

Renovating Prague’s Monuments | 1914

The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

and St Charlemagne at Karlov, The National

Theatre, Belvedere, The Church of Our Lady

before Týn, Ferdinand Avenue (today’s Národní

Street), Old Town Hall, The Powder Tower,

Monument to Charles IV, Hradčany skyline

Ink on pasteboard

Museum of Czech Literature, Prague

Otto Gutfreund: Anxiety | 1911–1912

Plaster of Paris (later copy)

The National Gallery in Prague

Venouš Dolejš (Josef Skružný):

Caricature of the Sculpture Anxiety

by Otto Gutfreund

“In the centre of the sanctuary stands the

Anxiety sculpture, in which the artist introduces

an individual of the near future, emaciated

from hunger caused by poverty, who anxiously

contemplates what is yet to come, hoping cattle

prices will not drop.”

Humoristické listy LV, 1912, No. 5

Look for the caricatured

sculpture Anxiety by

Otto Gutfreund in the

permanent exhibition

of Czech Cubism.

As you can see

on the opposite side,

caricaturists also

ridiculed architecture:

CLUES FOR LESSONS IN THE CARICATURE OF CUBISM

8

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THEMES

IN CARICATURE:

DESIGN

CLUES FOR LESSONS

IN THE CARICATURE

OF CUBISM

Worksheets for visitors to the exhibition

in the House at the Black Madonna

CONCEPT:

Vladimíra Sehnalíková

CONSULTANCY:

Tomáš Winter

GRAPHIC DESIGN:

Colmo

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Linda Leffová

PHOTO:

Archiv B & M Chochola,

archive of the Museum of Decorative Arts

in Prague, Institute of Art History of the Czech

Academy of Sciences, www.encyklopedie.brna.cz

PRINTED BY:

Adverter

Published by the Museum of Decorative Arts

in Prague in 2016

You can read more about the caricature

of Cubism in the article:

Naomi Hume, Violent Humour:

Caricature of Cubism in Prague, 1912–1914,

Umění, Vol. LI, 2003, No. 2, pp. 122–136.

Dr. Desiderius (Hugo Boettinger) also published

his industrial design sketches:

Hugo Boettinger: Locomotives II

“… and here is a design for a Baroque, an Art Nouveau and a Cubist locomotive.”

Šibeničky, Vol. II, 1919, No. 10

www.upm.cz

www.czkubismus.cz