The exhibition is a free reminder of the only joint exhibition of František Kupka and Alfonso Mucha, which took place in 1936 at the Musée des Écoles Étrangéres Contemporaines in Paris at the Jeu de Paume in the Tuileries Gardens.
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“Both artists knew each other through mutual friends – the factory owner, patron and great art collector Jindřich Waldes and the Czechoslovak ambassador in Paris and art lover Štefan Osuský, who also worked or did business in France,” recalls Vladimír Lekeš from Adolf Loos Apartment and Gallery. who organizes the exhibition.
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Exhibition Kupka – Mucha
The exhibition can be visited every day, including weekends and holidays from 10:00 to 18:00 in the Expo 58 building in Letenské sady from 26 February to 20 March 2022.
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After 86 long years, this will be the first joint exhibition of these two most important painters of Czech origin. The unique exhibition will present more than eighty oil paintings and works on paper.
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Several of them were on display at a joint exhibition in Paris. Whether it’s Mucha’s Art Nouveau poster designs, or Kupka’s paintings Lines, Areas, Depth, Static Ensemble, Abstract Composition or the unique bronze bust of Eugenie Kupka. By the way, this is the only sculptural work by František Kupka. The portrait of the painter’s wife was made only in two slightly modified castings, one of which was owned by Kupka himself and the other by the already mentioned factory owner Jindřich Waldes. Both variants will be at the exhibition for the first time.
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The works have been provided by over twenty major private collectors, institutions and funds. “We managed to borrow paintings both from home and abroad. For example, from Switzerland, Germany, France, England and the USA. It is a great appreciation of long-term honest work for the Adolf Loos Apartment and Gallery and undoubtedly a sign of the great trust of lenders in our company, “notes Vladimír Lekeš.
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The insurable value of the exhibited works of art reaches a hardly believable two and a half billion crowns. “The exhibition is insured with a renowned German insurance company and is financed only by our gallery without any support from public finances,” says Lekeš.
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With the value of the works, it will be the most expensive exhibition in the Czech Republic, organized by a private gallery. That is why it can be expected that it will be accompanied by strict security measures.
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