František Kalivoda: Vize a návraty modernismu - prezentace knihy v Galerii VI PER
Galerie VI cordially invites you to the presentation of a new book about František Kalivoda, which will take place on Monday, March 18, 2024, at 6:00 PM. The publication will be presented by Jindřich Chatrný and Markéta Svobodová.
This extensive publication (624 pages) provides, for the first time, a comprehensive portrait of a little-known yet exceptional figure of the Brno intellectual milieu from the thirties to the early seventies of the last century, the Brno native František Kalivoda. "KALI" (a shortened version of his surname, which he often used in personal and written contacts with his Czech and foreign friends and colleagues) significantly and uniquely influenced a number of creative artistic and design fields. Educated as an architect, he understood this profession from the very beginning in broader contexts as a creative, organizational, and social activity. In addition to his own design work (at just 23 years old, he designed a villa in Brno for the world-renowned dancer Ivo Váňa Psota), he tirelessly promoted experimental film and photography and new artistic forms, especially through the work of László Moholy-Nagy. He was a founding member of the progressive film-photo group Levá fronta. His inventiveness literally shone in typographic creation, even in a European context (including the magazines Ekran and Telehor).
In 1935, he became the secretary of the newly re-established Czechoslovak group of CIRPAC (International Committee for the Resolution of Problems in Contemporary Architecture), and together with Hungarian architect Farkas Molnár, two years later, they initiated the establishment of the Eastern European group CIAM-Ost (International Congresses of Modern Architecture). He promoted modern architecture through his contributions in the now-iconic magazines Forum, Architektura, Měsíc, Salon, Index, etc.
His personal connections with world and domestic personalities from a wide artistic spectrum were truly unique – Le Corbusier, Marcel Breuer, Alfred Roth, Cornelis van Eesteren, Max Bill, Jan Tschichold, Hans Arp, Max Ernst, László Moholy-Nagy, Hannah Höch, Raoul Hausmann, Sigfried Giedion, Hélène de Mandrot, Bedřich Václavek, Bohuslav Fuchs, Jaromír Krejcar, Karel Honzík, Otakar Vávra, Zdeněk Rossmann, Lubomír Linhart, Karel Höger, František Kožík, etc. He developed the principles of the pre-war avant-garde in the relaxed atmosphere of the sixties, initiating a number of conference, exhibition, and publication projects dedicated to Brno personalities known abroad (Adolf Loos, Johann Gregor Mendel, Viktor Kaplan, Leoš Janáček).
František Kalivoda was the one who reached out to Greta Tugendhat, who, at his invitation, came to Brno in 1967. Later, she spoke there about the circumstances of building her world-famous family house at the now legendary exhibition of the lifelong work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, which took place at the turn of 1968/1969 in the Brno House of Art thanks to Kalivoda's exceptional personal contacts. In 1970, Kalivoda then initiated a conference on the protection of modern architectural monuments in Czechoslovakia with the vision that Brno could become a center for the protection of classic modern buildings.
The book is published in a Czech-English edition by the Museum of the City of Brno in collaboration with the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Archive of the City of Brno.
This extensive publication (624 pages) provides, for the first time, a comprehensive portrait of a little-known yet exceptional figure of the Brno intellectual milieu from the thirties to the early seventies of the last century, the Brno native František Kalivoda. "KALI" (a shortened version of his surname, which he often used in personal and written contacts with his Czech and foreign friends and colleagues) significantly and uniquely influenced a number of creative artistic and design fields. Educated as an architect, he understood this profession from the very beginning in broader contexts as a creative, organizational, and social activity. In addition to his own design work (at just 23 years old, he designed a villa in Brno for the world-renowned dancer Ivo Váňa Psota), he tirelessly promoted experimental film and photography and new artistic forms, especially through the work of László Moholy-Nagy. He was a founding member of the progressive film-photo group Levá fronta. His inventiveness literally shone in typographic creation, even in a European context (including the magazines Ekran and Telehor).
In 1935, he became the secretary of the newly re-established Czechoslovak group of CIRPAC (International Committee for the Resolution of Problems in Contemporary Architecture), and together with Hungarian architect Farkas Molnár, two years later, they initiated the establishment of the Eastern European group CIAM-Ost (International Congresses of Modern Architecture). He promoted modern architecture through his contributions in the now-iconic magazines Forum, Architektura, Měsíc, Salon, Index, etc.
His personal connections with world and domestic personalities from a wide artistic spectrum were truly unique – Le Corbusier, Marcel Breuer, Alfred Roth, Cornelis van Eesteren, Max Bill, Jan Tschichold, Hans Arp, Max Ernst, László Moholy-Nagy, Hannah Höch, Raoul Hausmann, Sigfried Giedion, Hélène de Mandrot, Bedřich Václavek, Bohuslav Fuchs, Jaromír Krejcar, Karel Honzík, Otakar Vávra, Zdeněk Rossmann, Lubomír Linhart, Karel Höger, František Kožík, etc. He developed the principles of the pre-war avant-garde in the relaxed atmosphere of the sixties, initiating a number of conference, exhibition, and publication projects dedicated to Brno personalities known abroad (Adolf Loos, Johann Gregor Mendel, Viktor Kaplan, Leoš Janáček).
František Kalivoda was the one who reached out to Greta Tugendhat, who, at his invitation, came to Brno in 1967. Later, she spoke there about the circumstances of building her world-famous family house at the now legendary exhibition of the lifelong work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, which took place at the turn of 1968/1969 in the Brno House of Art thanks to Kalivoda's exceptional personal contacts. In 1970, Kalivoda then initiated a conference on the protection of modern architectural monuments in Czechoslovakia with the vision that Brno could become a center for the protection of classic modern buildings.
The book is published in a Czech-English edition by the Museum of the City of Brno in collaboration with the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Archive of the City of Brno.
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