The Museum of Czech Cubism at the House of the Black Madonna is ending

Prague - The Prague Museum of Czech Cubism at the House at the Black Madonna is closing. The National Gallery (NG), which acquired the building nearly ten years ago from the State Fund for Culture, will close the exhibition on Sunday, September 2. The cubism exhibition is set to move to the Trade Fair Palace, where the NG intends to concentrate all Czech art of the 20th century. This was said today by NG spokesperson Eva Kolerusová.
     The Museum of Czech Cubism has offered a modest exhibition in scale since 2003, but its concept and the quality of the displayed works are exceptional. The exhibits are spread over three floors of the unique house designed by architect Josef Gočár, built between 1911-1912 in the cubist style. Works by Bohumil Kubišta, Emil Filla, Josef Čapek, Antonín Procházka, Václav Špála, and Vincenc Beneš are displayed, along with sculptures by Otto Gutfreund and furniture from the workshops of Pavel Janák and Vlastislav Hofman. Visitors can also view book graphics by Vratislav Hugo Brunner and architectural models and documentation of famous buildings of Czech cubist architecture.
     "We have given notice because the exhibition at the House at the Black Madonna no longer meets our standards, and it also duplicates the exhibition at the Trade Fair Palace, where part of cubism is also displayed," the spokesperson stated. Some cubist works are set to travel to South Korea in the fall, where they will be exhibited until spring of next year. "Some of them are loaned works that will be returned to the owners, and some will no longer be exhibited and will go into storage," described the fate of the cubism exhibition Kolerusová.
     The Trade Fair Palace allows for "better use of the collection funds and the display of a wider and more representative selection of artworks, including paintings and sculptures of Czech cubism," according to the spokesperson. The new cubist exhibition will open here in the first half of next year.
     The House at the Black Madonna will still be used for exhibitions. There are considerations for its use for the collections of the Museum of Decorative Arts.