All the angles

The Cubist building known as Diamant (Diamond), designed by Emil Králíček and located at the corner of Spálená and Lazarská - certainly familiar to any Praguer who has been on a 50-something night tram - is a fitting venue for presenting two major Czech architects, Josef Gočár and Otakar Novotný, both of whom worked in the Cubist style.

Galerie S.V.U. Mánes Diamant is commemorating the 130th anniversary of both architects' births and at the same time is marking the 20th anniversary of the renewal of activities of the Mánes Association of Fine Artists, which operates the gallery and once counted Gočár and Novotný among its leading members.

Sidestep the construction work on the building's east side and enter through the sliding doors of UniCredit Bank. On a recent weekend, when the bank was closed, attempts by several people to gain entry by swiping their ATM cards were unsuccessful, until the doors slid open when an elderly woman stepped on what is apparently the magic spot.

The gallery is downstairs, where periodic tremors make it feel as though the B-line metro trains are running right through the building. They soon become part of the ambience.

The show opens with a photograph of the two architects in tuxedos at a joint 50th birthday celebration, and goes on to present the two in roughly equal measure, centering on their most important buildings as well as competition designs that were never realized. The show also includes examples of their Cubist furnishings and fleshes out the display with ample biographical information and memorabilia.

Gočár is one of most significant European architects of the first half of the 20th century. An influential architecture professor, furniture designer and urban planner, Gočár guided his work through a complex development from Art Nouveau to Functionalism. After studying in the studio of master architect Jan Kotěra, the father of Modernist architecture in the Czech lands, Gočár made his first independent designs in the Art Nouveau style, but within less than a decade, he had applied Cubism's dynamic forms to architecture in his most important building: the House at the Black Madonna (1911-12) in Prague's Old Town - which was the location for a recent book launch of a major new monograph on Gočár.

The architect realized further Cubist buildings, including a spa pavilion in Bohdaneč (1912-13), family houses and some one-of-a-kind interiors. On display here are several pieces Gočár designed for the home of the actor Otto Boleška, including a brass and crystal Cubist chandelier and a beautiful Cubist mantel clock.

After World War I, most Cubist architects became advocates of "national decorativism," which came out of Art Deco but also incorporated elements inspired by folk architecture. Gočár designed a number of buildings in this decorative style, the best-known of which is the Czechoslovak Legion Bank on Prague's Na Poříčí street.

A fair amount of space in the exhibit is devoted to Gočár's work as an urban planner - particularly his concept for a modern city center in the east Bohemian city of Hradec Králové, where, thanks to the city's visionary mayor, František Ulrich, he was able to design two city squares, a ring road and a range of buildings, especially schools.

Otakar Novotný, who was also a student of Jan Kotěra's, stood outside the main current of architectural Cubism and was a latecomer to the style. He realized several Cubist buildings as the idiom was already fading from fashion, including two teachers' residences on Elišky Krásnohorské street in Prague's Old Town (1919-21) and in the Letná neighborhood (1923).

Novotný is better known for his buildings in the Functionalist style - including the Mánes building along the Vltava River in Prague's New Town, which was built as the headquarters of the Mánes artists' association. Photographs of this building, which was completed in 1930, show that the exhibition and restaurant spaces were originally much more elegant than the run-down state they are in today.

Like Gočár, Novotný was a professor of architecture, and he also was an author and editor, writing such tomes as About Architecture and Jan Kotěra and His Times, and heading architectural and art periodicals including the magazine Volné směry (Free Directions), published by the Mánes Association of Fine Artists.

Several furnishings Novotný designed are exhibited, as well. They range from a pear wood and crystal vase from 1899-1902, which combines Art Nouveau influences in the base with a more angular crystal body, to a Cubist oak chair and a Cubist hanging lamp, both from 1922. Gathered together in one frame is a terrific compilation of architectural details by Novotný, including a door knob, a door handle and banisters.

The Cubist style is today widely recognized as a unique Czech contribution to world architecture, and Gočár is arguably its most significant proponent, while Novotný is more renowned for his works in other styles. This exhibition presents a well-rounded picture of two important architects, following the creative trajectories of exact contemporaries who both started their careers under Kotěra's wing. It might even inspire viewers to walk through snowy Prague, seeking out the buildings themselves.

Mimi Fronczak Rogers can be reached at
Features@praguepost.com