Architecture Empowering Space: Alfred Neumann – Life and Work

EMPOWERING ARCHITECTURE OF SPACE: ALFRED NEUMANN – LIFE AND WORK is the very first exhibition about the work of Alfred Neumann (1900–1968). Neumann began in the 1960s in Israel, and his original architecture stood apart from the canon of the so-called International Style of the time: he avoided functionalist and orthogonal expressions and opted for the geometry of polyhedra, where traditional architectural principles intertwine with new expressive methods. Thanks to unique examples of his most renowned buildings, the exhibition sheds light on Neumann's expressive architecture and design methodology. It narrates through various means Neumann's architecture and presents unpublished photographs, architectural drawings, and models in both large and small scales, created specifically for this occasion. The gallery will feature four life-sized spatial models based on Neumann's most famous projects, allowing visitors to walk through them and gain their own authentic impression of his architectural geometries and spaces. Architectural models in smaller scales of the same buildings will provide a complete context for the life-sized models and demonstrate how Neumann worked with scales and elements in a balanced manner to create unified schemes in his designs. The exhibition is complemented by Neumann's personal correspondence, photographs, paintings, and sketches. Historical documentation and reconstructed architectural elements in the space are equally represented to provide visitors with both information about Neumann's architecture and an authentic experience.

Architect Alfred Neumann would likely have long been the most renowned "Czech" creator and theorist of modern architecture if it had not been for the complexities of the era in which he lived and created, which so often and abruptly changed his fate. His theories, visions, and professional successes gradually became overshadowed by the tolls of forgetfulness. Now, we are slowly revealing his genius, and only after several decades can we comprehend his significance and place in the history of modern art.
The exhibition and publication dedicated to Alfred Neumann are presented in Ostrava in a world premiere and will most likely be shown in other places in the Czech Republic and abroad (in Wrocław, Weimar, Brno, Paris, Tel Aviv, Montreal, and New York). They aim to draw attention not only to the architect's work but also to his complicated fates during times of extreme intolerance toward origin and differing individual opinions.
The preparation of the exhibition and the creation of the publication required significant resources and considerable effort. To date, exhibits and archives from several countries have not been secured in such volume, making it possible to present the personality and work of Alfred Neumann in the necessary breadth and complexity, as well as in the context of the creators of his time and as a source of inspiration for the current generation.

Alfred Neumann was born into a Jewish family in Vienna, but he was associated with Brno from the age of ten, when he moved there with his parents. In Brno, he studied at the German School of Building Engineering, where he later worked as an assistant, and after the establishment of Czechoslovakia, he enrolled in the German Technical University. He regularly returned to Brno from his foreign stays. During World War II, he hid and was deported to the Terezin concentration camp at the beginning of 1945. He managed to survive and returned to Brno. After the war, he worked at the Regional Study and Planning Institute in Brno, participating with Bohuslav Fuchs and Emanuel Hruška in the regional plans of Czechoslovakia, especially for the Moravian-Silesian region. In 1947, he represented Czechoslovakia at the sixth meeting of the Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) in Bridgwater, England, among other things presenting urban studies of Prague, Zlín, and Ostrava. After the communist coup in February 1948, he lost his employment and emigrated to Israel in 1949.
After emigrating, he was mainly associated with the unfolding of the newly formed state of Israel and then with Canada, where he worked as a university lecturer at Laval University in Quebec, among other roles. His projects and realizations, apart from Czechoslovakia, can be found in Germany, Poland, Austria, Algeria, the Republic of South Africa, France, and Canada. Through his theories, he influenced an entire generation of architects and artists, and he continues to inspire contemporary ones as well.