stipendienbericht

Aktion Österreich-Tschechien, Semester- und Jahresstipendien
STIPENDIENBERICHT
Name:
Regina Foschiová
Heimatuniversität: Karls-Universität Prag
Zieluniversität:
Universität Wien
Zielinstitut:
Institut für Osteuropäische Geschichte
Aufenthaltstermin: Wintersemester 2014/15
I conducted a research for the part of my dissertation in Vienna. I study a
history of art at the Catholic Theological Faculty at the Charles University in Prague
and I am currently in my second year of Phd-programm. My dissertation deals
with the topic of Czech exile art between the years 1968 and 1989 in Germanspoken region. The goal of the dissertation is to collect the stories of artists who
emigrated from Czechoslovakia between the years 1968 and 1989 to the Germanspoken region (that is Austria and West Germany) and to find out how the
emigration influenced the artists' work. The result will be a time-line of events in
each region; a time-line of what happened on the art scene from the perspective of
the artists from Czechoslovakia. In the center of my interest is also a social aspect
of the emigration - who were the artists in contact with, did they interacted
among each other, were they in contact with the artists in Czechoslovakia, in what
kind of exhibitions did they participate or in what context was their work presented
etc.
The group of 22 artists (namely Frantisek Lesak, Zbynek Sekal, Ondřej Kohout,
Eugen Brikcius, Eva Vanes, Irena Racek, Jan Brabenec, Tomas Hales, Otakar
Slavik, Karel Dudesek, Jaroslav Marcel Houf, Vladimir Koci, Josef Symon, Milada
Zahnhausen, Otakar M. Baburek, Betyna Bircher, Robert Vejvoda, Ladislav Alp-Krtil,
Jan Safranek, Lenka Baburek, Zbynek Benysek, Jaroslav Libansky) from
Czechoslovakia settled down in Vienna during the 60's, 70's and 80's. They came
from various kinds of artistic and social background but Theky faced more or less
the same obstacles in their new home. They tried to establish themselves as artists
and continue to work, which is something that for many of them were impossible
in Czechoslovakia due to the communist regime and its oppressive measures. What
I found out during my research in Vienna was the fact that in Austria (and
especially in Vienna) lived a Czech/Slovakian community that settled here
between the end of 19th century and the year 1948 and that was very fond of
Czechoslovakian heritage but not of the newcomers who they believed were all
ex-communists or at least people who were ,degenerated" due to the
communist regime. This tension among "Wiener Tschechen" and the newcomers
led to the fact that the community life played a minor part in the artists' lives.
The resources for my research were mainly anthologies (e. g. Helena
Basler, Marie Brandeis, Jifi K. Kroupa, Jana Starek: Wiener Tschechen 1945-2005.
Aktion Österreich-Tschechien, Semester- und Jahresstipendien
Zur Geschichte einer Volksgruppe; Marie Brandeis: Wir kamen von anderswo...
Interviewbuch mit Tschechen und Slowaken; Karl M. Brousek: Wien und seine
Tschechen. Integration und Assimilation einer Minderheit im 20. Jahrhundert etc),
exhibition catalogs (e. g. Zbynek Sekal. Zusammengesetzte bilder. Zeichnuhgen,
Museum Bochum 1977; Frantisek Lesak. Das "Bonjour Monsieur Courbet" Projekt,
Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum Graz 1985; Meda Mladek, Dieter
Ronte. Expressiv. Central European Art since 1960, 1987; Ondřej Kohout 19811989, Museum Bochum etc.) and newspaper articles (e. g. Kristian Sotriffer. Der
Weg ist der Weg. In: Kunst und Kirche 2/80, Linz 1980; Wolfgang J. Bandion. Zbynek
Sekal. Bilder voller Konzentration und Wachheit. In: Academia, Zeitschrift für Politik
und Kultur 41/4, 1990; Kristian Sotriffer. Dem Fremdsein entrinnen. " KleinWien": Begegnung mit dem bildenden Kiinstler Zbynek Sekal in Brunn. In: Die Presse,
14. 11. 1992 etc.) therefore I conducted the research mostly in Osterreichische
National Bibliothek, Fachbibliothek des Instituts der osteuropaische Geschichte,
Fachbibliothek des Instituts der Kunstgeschichte and a study hall in Albertina.
Another resources were materials with information about the members of
Kiinstlerhaus (Karel Dudesek, Ondrej Kohout, Otakar Slavik, Josef Symon, Jan
Tabor and Ladislav Alp-Krtil) and Wiener Secession (Zbynek Sekal, Frantisek
Lesak) therefore I researched in the archives of these institutions as well. I was
also able to visit some of the artists in their studios and ask them some questions
or at least arrange a meeting in Prague in cases when it was more convenient for
them.
At the university I attended several interesting lectures at the Institute of Art
History and a seminar at the Institute of East European history conducted by prof.
Ther and prof. Jobst. In this seminar I had the opportunity to introduce my
dissertation to fellow students and to be introduced to their diploma thesis and
dissertations. At the Institute of Art History I attended following lectures: Schlechte
Kunst. Die Modeme der Werturteile with Prof. Friedrich Tietjen, Velazquez und
sein Jahrhundert with prof. Sebastian Schiitze and Contemporary Art: The Social
Tum, Sociability and The Socius with prof. Noit Banai.
As a student of art history I also had the amazing opportunity to visit couple
of excellent exhibitions in Vienna such as: Velazquez. Maler des Konigs in
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Der Weg in die Moderne in
Kunstforum Wien, Chto Delat - Time Capsule. Artistic Report on Catastrophes and
Utopia in Wiener Secession, Blue Times in Kunsthalle Wien where I had a
opportunity to join a lecture held by Suzana Milevska (The (Im)Possibility of
Cultural Translation of Blue), Friedrich Hundertwasser permanent exhibition in
Kunsthaus, Amulf Rainer and Karel Prantl exhibitions in Albertina (that were especially
important for my research as they both are essential artists of the Austrian art scene
in the seconfhalf of the 20th century), and many more.
I also had a pleasure to attend several events organized by OeAD: Art
and Music of Austria- Lecture and Guided City Walk with prof. Rainer, Joan Miro
exhibition guided by prof. Bandion and a guided walking tour From Art Nouveau to
Baroque.

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