Jaromír Pečírka: Otakar Novotný

It is not an easy task to sketch a portrait of the chairman of "Mánes", Professor architect Otakar Novotný, and at this moment, even harder because it should have a festive character, as is customary on the occasion of a jubilee. But Otakar Novotný does not love officialdom and does not care for celebrations. Let us therefore begin with this trait: He is a sober man whose actions are primarily guided by consideration, reason, a man who loves European values and decency, whose face has hard features, a concentrated expression, whose will is firm and appetite for work unflagging. Years ago, the painter Vratislav Nechleba painted Otakar Novotný (in 1914). The young architect, with a smile on his face, stands there before the massive interior of a Romanesque church in southern France. This background was chosen by the architect himself, and the painter was served a photograph from a German monograph on Romanesque architecture in France by J. Baum, which at that time richly informed about the constructive and decorative miracles of pre-Gothic France. In this choice of the interior of the Church of St. Front in Périgueux, an interior that is a bare expression of the great constructive idea and a reference to the immense technical art of Roman construction, there is a clear intent, perhaps a piece of his own program, and certainly an admission to that modern architecture which is unadorned and constructively clear. However, the literary portrait of architect Novotný cannot use the background of the Romanesque interior, the meaning of which must be searched for in the painting through contemplation, and would rather place the architect before his own buildings. And here it appears that the architect and his buildings share the same trait: civil, inconspicuous, modest, somewhat cold in reason—the unity is created as it should be. Truly, they ought to wear wigs on their bright heads, those Prague architects who still today create in the pure spirit of baroque. But this memory of the unfortunate baroque twilight of Prague architecture, which we are still experiencing, leads us to another robust trait of O. Novotný, to the trait of combativeness, to the trait of courage. Unfortunately, I do not have a list of the interventions against artistic mediocrity and dishonesty that he undertook, for which he initiated or which he advocated as chairman of "Mánes." But it would be a long list, and it would be a piece of contemporary history in the fight against stagnation. And it would be clear that architect Novotný is here a spokesman for an entire generation, that his work in this field is related, often inadvertently, to the activity and thinking of the entire collective of people. Especially the history of the association of visual artists "Mánes", of which architect Novotný has been chairman continuously since 1920 (not counting several earlier years), whose association revue he edited (volume 18) or co-edited, whose new building he designed and is building, must be a living frame for the narration of his own affairs. That will indeed be the task of a historian one day. Today, it would be best if architect Novotný himself could recount all of this. On January 11 of next year (1930), architect Novotný will turn fifty. Thus, a welcome opportunity arises to take a comprehensive look at his architectural work so far. However, it must first be stated a few life dates. Otakar Novotný was born on January 11, 1880, in Benešov—his father was a notary there—he attended high school in Prague, graduating in 1898 from a higher technical school, and then practically worked on Prague constructions, holding the position of an assistant at the Imperial and Royal Technical School in Brno from 1898 to 1900. The desire for deeper education in the field of modern architecture led him to further study in Prague at the School of Applied Arts, where Jan Kotěra had already been working for two years. The relationship of the student to the teacher transformed into collaboration after three years when Novotný became the chief architect in Kotěra's office (1903–1904). Among other things, he worked on plans for the district house in Hradec Králové. It is well known what significance Jan Kotěra's arrival had for the artistic conditions in Prague, how successfully his organizational abilities were immediately applied here, how his own striving for a new style in architecture resonated in harmony with the efforts of the young association "Mánes", and how, in the secular year 1900, he initiated an open battle against Prague's official circles in the field of architecture with the architectural act—People's Savings Bank on Wenceslas Square—thus breaching the bastion of reactionary architecture that had dangerously burgeoned in Prague at that time. He instilled in his students the principles of his Viennese teacher O. Wagner, principles of good building that must fulfill its purpose, must apply material within its own possibilities, and must have a simple, economical structure. Kotěra, throughout his development, realized these principles more and more clearly, becoming the immediate predecessor of the most recent directions in architecture. For O. Novotný, Kotěra's art was a source of knowledge and a starting point for his own creation. We see this for example in the villa of Dr. Žižka in Újezd near Jiren (1904), in the mass of its roofs, in the gentle ornamentation framing the windows, in the picturesque joining of plaster with wood. But more than Kotěra's forms from that time, the principles he advocated influenced Novotný, which he verified in foreign architectures while traveling through Europe. It was especially the trip to the Netherlands undertaken in 1908 that seems to have sparked a lasting love in the young architect for bare brick masonry. In that sense, the trip through Northern Germany, viewing late Gothic town halls and churches, also served as an example.
In 1908, Novotný designed a group of buildings for Holice, of which a gymnasium was built in 1911. In the same year, Novotný completed the Štenc house on Salvatorská street (1909–1911). This is one of the first modern houses in Prague, devoid of all picturesque applied ornamental decoration, featuring a large, calm surface in the façade. The red brick of the upper floors is in delicate color harmony with the white frames of the ground floor, created from glazed bricks: above the crown cornice, the façade is closed off with a glass quarter-cylinder forming the roof of the studios. The gymnasium in Holice is also styled very purely, built above a "base" of red bricks from white bricks. On these buildings, some detail forms characteristic of Novotný's structures can be found to this day: narrow windows with variations of French "balcony" windows, the elaboration of the window frame into the body of the architecture with multiple step-downs, a slender column or pillar of bricks, immediately supporting a horizontal lintel, a stepped cornice, an arch, an arcade, a mild brick mosaic where the logic of the façade allows it. The family house of Dr. Zemánek in Holice (1911), the gymnasium in Rakovník (1912), the family houses J. Váni in Benešov and F. Sequense in Prague (1912) are further, randomly chosen examples of this clean, brick style, which is fully manifested again in post-war buildings from the most recent years (1924–1929), for example in the Bartoň villa in Česká Skalice (the brick building rises from a stone base), at Sehnoutka's cafeteria in Černožice (brick fillings in concrete frames), at the Štejnský palace in Hradec Králové, etc.
But let us return to the earlier years, after 1910. At that time, Novotný, together with his peers, intensely experienced a period of revolution in Czech architecture. Let us mention J. Gočár, P. Janák, V. Hofman. The expression of that lively period is also the establishment of "Styl", a professional journal for modern architecture. Novotný edited the 3rd, 4th, and temporarily the 5th volume (1913) of "Styl" and published theoretical and practical considerations on interiors, gardens, perfect styles, American villas, and similar contemporary issues. In particular, a study titled "Creating Form in Architecture" (Styl IV, 1912) draws attention. Novotný states the postulate that new architecture must first create fundamental laws and not waste energy on devising decorative elements or on establishing laws for detailed forms, which distract from the very essence of construction. The starting point is the purpose of the building, which gives its floor plan. "Thus, almost everything is accomplished by the architect: spatial conception; what remains is merely to supplement." The purpose of the building also dictates the natural division of the façade and the choice of materials. Forms must not be sought in historical styles, but a new form must be created. The minimum requirement is that this new form should clearly express the purpose and construction. It is necessary to free the form from all that is unnecessary and to reduce it to the simplest, clearest, most pronounced shape. There will be time to think about decoration only after these universally applicable principles of the new architecture have been firmly established.
After 1910, there was a shift in the development of modern Czech architecture away from the principles advocated by Kotěra. Influenced by cubist painting, architects from the "Group" created cubist architecture. It was not about creating a decorative externality made of cubist elements but about a new formation, the crystallization of the building material itself. Architect Novotný did not unconditionally align himself with this direction, but he nevertheless tried to apply cubism-derived forms and floor plan systems on the ideal project of the royal palace in Sofia (1912). Likewise, on the project for the National Theatre in Brno (1913), he used cubist forms on the façade, forms that were then well established in our artistic industry, fundamentally of a decorative nature. And the same happens again, but in a milder form, on the construction of cooperative houses on Bílková street (1919). However, the very fortunate and impressive cubist architecture of the interior of the Czech section of the "Werkbund" exhibition in Cologne (1914), which gained worldwide fame, should not be forgotten. The years 1915–18 were spent by O. Novotný in military service, as his curriculum vitae states, mostly at the front. His construction work was thus interrupted. The mentioned cooperative houses are the first larger post-war work.
The "Baroque" post-war episode of modern Czech architecture, which breaks the façades into plastically expressive, yet disorganizing motifs, only slightly touched Novotný's work. The construction of the "Orion" in Vinohrady, or the apartment house in Kamenická street (1923), can serve as examples here. The return to pure, tectonically firm, unadorned architecture of large surfaces and moderate, noble effects, as demonstrated in the aforementioned constructions of recent years, was for Novotný a return to the very essence of earlier creation and at the same time a return to the path contemporary architecture is generally taking.
In the map of architect Novotný, we find a number of competition proposals that did not realize, which a historian dealing with his work cannot overlook. Among them are very remarkable proposals, such as the design for the Prague Opera (1922), the State Gallery (1923), the Agricultural Museum in Bratislava (1924), the Academic Square in Brno (1925), the Trade Bank in Prague (1929), proposals that show the architect's ability to address monumental architectural tasks in a generous, simple, genuinely monumental way.
Special mention should be made of Novotný's interiors, which accompany his architectural work in all its developmental phases. From the post-war period, the most significant work of this kind is the arrangement of the Czechoslovak embassy in Budapest (1923) with the participation of V. H. Brunner and Karel Dvořák. Furthermore, it is necessary to mention the installations for exhibitions, such as the aforementioned Czech section of the "Werkbund" in Cologne (1914), the exhibition of the Czechoslovak Union in Prague (1921), the exhibitions of Mánes, the Czech exhibition at the international exhibition of decorative arts in Paris in 1924.
In his own brief summary of his life's course, architect Novotný vaguely mentions his organizational activities in the field of fine arts, although this activity is a fundamental component of his life's work. It is often a thankless, frequently undervalued activity, in which one's own work often passes into other hands. Architect Novotný is an indefatigable and most selfless worker in this field, in this collective effort, whether it is about the social standing of artists or their artistic development. He was a co-founder of the "Society of Architects", the "Union of Czechoslovak Works", the founder of the "Syndicate of Visual Artists" and its later branch: the "Organization of Czech Artists". I am not called upon to describe the significance of his great work that he performs for the "Society of Visual Artists Mánes," of which he is the heart and soul. Finally, there is yet another area of activity. Novotný—the teacher. In 1929, architect Otakar Novotný was appointed by the Ministry of Education, according to a unanimous proposal of the faculty, to the professorship of architecture at the School of Applied Arts. He had already had teaching practice, especially at the Academy of Fine Arts, where, after the death of his teacher Jan Kotěra in 1923, he worked for several months. Professor Novotný's current teaching position has just begun, but there is no doubt that he will apply not only his extensive experience and knowledge but also his rare gift of joyful ideal dedication to the success of others.
But this rare trait of Otakar Novotný, inherent to his human essence, brings forth before me his person, himself, just as I spoke with him yesterday and as I will meet him tomorrow. And it occurs to me that his portrait is not complete if it lacks the trait of the violinist, the musician Novotný. He played for years at the first desk as concertmaster in the orchestral ensemble. That itself is testimony to the height of his violin artistry. Just as in architecture he values pure form, properly used material, and a firm rhythm of masses and planes, so in playing the violin does he value technical purity, a firm rhythm, and a clear construction of the musical forms of individual movements. Finally, I cannot completely refrain from a personal recollection of the hours we spent in mutual admiration of the art of Beethoven, Brahms, Reger, and Franck.

December 4, 1929