This first monograph on one of Czechoslovakia’s most important designers, Libuse Niklová (1934–1981), explores the rich and delightful world of her plastic toys, featuring nearly 500 color photographs and archival reproductions. Her whistling accordion-pleated Tomcat, and inflatable Buffalo and Elephant have been treasured possessions for several generations of children in Czechoslovakia, occupying a unique position in twentieth-century product design, and many of them are firmly established icons in the Czech design canon. This fun, accessible book gathers her oeuvre into three chapters: "Plastic Playthings 1954–1964," "Accordion and Vernian Toys 1963–1967" and "Inflatable Toys 1963–1981." Full-color reproductions of the toys are punctuated with quotes from Niklová and her colleagues, and with sketches and archival photographs. Also included are a biography and a booklet, inserted toward the rear, listing all of her works.

Libu e Niklová

Arts & Photography

Tereza Bruthansová

Petr Nikl

Decorative Arts & Design

Arbor Vitae

Through a wealth of research, and illustrated with more than 1,200 photographs and documents (many published here for the first time), this enormous compendium traces Andy Warhol’s relationship to his parents’ native Czechoslovakia. Neither routine monograph nor ordinary biography, Andy Warhol and Czechoslovakia is the fruit of a 22-year labor of love by editors Rudo Prekop and Michal Cihlár, who were granted unprecedented access to the family archives by the artist’s brothers. Prekop and Cihlár amassed a wealth of interviews with friends and family members (both in the U.S. and in Czechoslovakia), and compiled these alongside archival interviews and all manner of ephemera, from family mementos and early artworks to previously unseen snapshots of Warhol. The editors also examine Warhol’s close relationship to his mother and explore his influence upon Prague’s underground music scene. The vast wealth of material gathered in this splendidly designed Warhol scrapbook paints a vivid portrait of the artist’s connection to his ethnic background.

Andy Warhol and Czechoslovakia (ARBOR VITAE)

Cihlár, Michal

Individual Artists

Heir to the postwar Surrealist traditions of his native Czechoslovakia, Frantis'ek Sk la (born 1956) has made remarkable objects, installations and paintings since the early 1980s, while also working in children's illustration, comic books, classical music and theater. This volume offers an overview of his three-decade career.

Frantiﬂek Skála (ARBOR VITAE)

Hlavácek, Ludvik

Jöndl, J.

Kratochvíl, Zdenek

Petrícek, Miroslav

The development of glassmaking in what is now the Czech Republic is rightly regarded as a tradition of extraordinary importance, one that extends beyond crafts history and impacts on such fields as technology and social history. From Neuwelt to the Whole World is a thoroughly researched art-historical survey of the varied output of the Harrach glassworks in Neuwelt, in the Krkonoe Mountains. Now 300 years old, the Harrach glassworks has played a progressive and often determining role in every stage of Bohemia’s evolving glass production, from its Baroque beginnings, through the Biedermeier and Revival styles, to Art Nouveau, Decorativism and the innovations of the 1950s, right up to the present day. One recognizes, throughout, the outstanding ability of Czech glassmakers to respond to technological advances, stylistic changes and external stimuli. No surprise, then, that Bohemian glassmaking has so often been a leader in European fine craft.

From Neuwelt to the Whole World: 300 Years of Harrach Glass (ARBOR VITAE)

Bro˝ková, Helena

Bro˝ová, Jarmila

Knothe, Florian

Luﬂtinec, Jan

Mergl, Jan

As Czech comic culture gains momentum in the new millennium, artists and fans are starting to excavate the country’s rich comics heritage. This richly illustrated volume presents the first survey of Czech comics, from the early twentieth century to the present. The story begins with Koule, the first comics magazine in Czechoslovakia, which ran from 1926 to 1928, and which included Antonin Burka’s fashionably dressed dandy character Skulifinda, Otto Messmer’s Kocour Felix (an adaptation of Felix the Cat) and, most famously, Adolf, Ladislav Vlodek’s tales of the adventures of a young boy, which was partly inspired by early American comics. Koule was succeeded by Punt’a (1935–42), but after the war there followed a fallow period, which was brought to a halt by the arrival of Ctyrlistek in 1969--Czechoslovakia’s longest-running comics magazine. Following the liberalization of social conditions in the mid-1980s, Kometa published adventurous works by Jan Patrik Krásny, Marko Cermák, Vladimir Tucapsky and Jan Stepánek, as well as earlier work by Kája Saudek. Starting in the mid-1990s, a slew of magazines began to add critical mass to this burgeoning culture, among them Crew, Aargh! and, mostly recently, the alternative comic magazine Kix!. The detailed essays throughout the book are in English, while the comics, reproduced in the original, remain in Czech.

Signals from Unknown: Czech Comics 1922-2012

Comics & Graphic Novels

Matulik, Rostislav

Graphic Novels

Dimensions of Dialogue celebrates the world-renowned Czech filmmaker Jan ﬁvankmajer (born 1934), responsible for some of the most memorable and unique animated films ever realized, and who has strongly influenced filmmakers like Tim Burton and The Brothers Quay. This publication presents ﬁvankmajer not only as a filmmaker but also as an outstanding fine artist, experimenter, poet and a militant surrealist. Through explorative and informative essays, scholars Bertrand Schmitt and Frantiﬂek Dryje illuminate the various aspects of his output, including puppet theatre, Mannerism, Surrealism and his many collaborations with his wife, Eva ﬁvankmajerová (1940–2005), a surrealist painter, filmmaker and ceramicist. The monograph, named after his 1982 film (noted for its brilliant display of “claymation”) includes a number of reproductions of ﬁvankmajer's art work, film stills, photographs from plays and a selection of documentary images from the life of this internationally respected and multitalented artist.

Jan Svankmajer: Dimensions of Dialogue: Between Film and Fine Art (ARBOR VITAE)

Vojtech Preissig (1873–1944) was one of the most prominent Czech artists and designers of the first half of the twentieth century. His influence on typography and graphic design was international (in fact he was often more recognized abroad than domestically). This book presents a comprehensive overview of Preissig’s oeuvre, which ranges from graphics for books and periodicals to ornamental patterns, designs and typography influenced by Alfons Mucha. We learn of his years in Prague, Paris and America (where he taught at Teachers College of Columbia University in New York and at Wentworth Institute in Boston), and his return to Czechoslovakia, where his fresh start was unfortunately thwarted by the onset of World War II. This publication recounts previously unpublished information about Preissig’s life, and contains a wealth of little-seen and previously unseen works.

Vojtech Preissig (Design - Profiles - Key Figures)

Vlcková, Lucie

This book features the painting and printmaking work of Czech artist Petr Nikl (born 1964) from the last 30 years, including a series on the subject of hatching, embryos and the mythology of origins. Writing by the artist accompanies his visual works.

Petr Nikl: The Game of Time (ARBOR VITAE)

This classic study, now expanded, juxtaposes Cézanne's paintings with photographs of the landscapes they depict
Cézanne: Landscape into Art, which reprises and expands the classic 1996 publication by Yale University Press, does precisely this. In this highly praised study, the scholar Pavel Machotka juxtaposes photographs of the sites of Cézanne’s landscape paintings--whenever possible, from the same angle and at the same time of day that the artist painted the scenes--with reproductions of the relevant paintings, offering a uniquely practical analysis of the ways in which Cézanne transformed reality into art. Since the original publication of this volume, new sites have been discovered--the result of scrutinizing collections of contemporaneous photographs and land registry records. These discoveries have added considerably to our knowledge of Cézanne’s movements and have even helped to date his paintings more precisely. The new photographs, which range from postcards from the artist’s time or the author’s own color photographs, allow for a richer and better informed consideration of Cézanne’s oeuvre. In light of those discoveries, Machotka has rewritten the previous edition to offer a fresh, rich view of Cézanne’s artistic aims and accomplishments.

Cézanne: Landscape into Art

Machotka, Pavel

Mysterious Distances (Symbolism and Art in the Bohemian Lands, 1880-1914). In his books, Otto M. Urban was the first person to define Czech Symbolism in the fine arts as a distinct phenomenon acting in a proclamatory fashion as part of the broader European artistic stream. Thanks to his insight, Czech art found its place within the natural context of European culture. The exhibition and the book Mysterious Distances juxtaposes renowned artists such as Mucha, Kupka, Pirner, Knüpfer, Schwaiger, Svabinsky, Bilek, Saloun, Zrzavy, Staeger and Teschner with many lesser known or newly discovered figures. The book includes an anthology of critical texts of the time and essays devoted to Symbolism in literature, theatre and applied art.

Mysterious Distances. Symbolism and Art in the Bohemian Lands, 1880–1914

Otto M. Urban

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