Kupka a karikatura – Zrcadla Pravdy

Kupka and Caricature - Mirrors of Truth
František Kupka and satirical drawing in Paris 1900
onic 14/6 - 12/10 2025

The exhibition is part of the program cycle dedicated to Museem Kampa topics, aspects and context of the work of František Kupka. The last one was the exhibition of the studio neighborhood in 2017. Marcel Duchamp. Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Jacques Villon and František Kupka, and in 2018, on the centenary of the founding of the Republic organized by František Kupka. Legionnaire and patriot. This year's exhibition will present the artist's work at the time of the "golden age" of satirical magazines. Although Kupka later distanced himself from this work from the perspective of his new orientation, there is no doubt that the subversive environment of Montmartre, where at the beginning of the last century he not only lived, but he was in integrated, strengthened his sense of non -conformist solutions, although in this case it was tied to satirical criticism of social conditions. Avant -garde ”went through this process, just like his aforementioned friend and neighbor Jacques Villon. There is no doubt that it was precisely by this work, militantly and scandalous, that he entered the public space in Paris, his native Bohemia and Vienna, a city linked to his first successes. Magazine satirical drawing with its ability to quickly and concisely provide information, "humorize" the problems of modern life while maintaining a "touch of eternity", addressing the widest possible public, becoming a powerful means of visual communication. The role, even dominated, as in L’siiette Au Beurre, where František Kupka also contributed to his most important satirical works. By satirical drawing, it was possible to respond much more to social, socio-political phenomena and news than written word. The cartoon satire even became a distinctive artistic genre, worthy of salons and exhibitions, a genre that contributed to the continuous questioning and questioning and the tendency of the art itself. The "golden age" of satirical magazines was made possible by the democratization of French society, which was the result of fighting and polemics. There were many in the third French Republic and in the international context. Satiric production was attacked from all possible parties, which could not be done without the intervention of censorship, scandals, even processes. The satirical criticism of the situation reflected in the imaginary "mirror of the naked truth" of diverse attitudes. The exhibition is to show this diversity, thought and formal. In addition to socio-political themes, he does not want to forget the critically playful context of the Fin-de-Siiècle. Its axis remains the work of František Kupka, especially his three realized cycles for L’siiette Au Beurre (money, peace, religion), but this work is in the context of the work of other artists of various attitudes and artistic focus of the Parisian Řízobníchtě scene, including other artists from the Czech Republic. Despite their possible conflict, the freedom of these diverse manifestations is a unique phenomenon of European culture. Although the exhibition cannot aspire to comprehensive, all aspects and attitudes recording the representation, it also intends to point out the fragrance and timeliness of the questioning of artists cartoon satire more than a hundred years ago.

Balluriau, Camara, Cappiello, Caran d´Es, Dědina, Delannoy, D'Ostoya, Florès, Forum, Galanis, Galantara, Giris, Grandjouan, Gris, Hermann-Paul, Hradecký, Huard, Ibels, Iribe, Jossot, Jouve, Kupka Léandre, Markouse, Michaël, Naudin, Poulbot, Preissig, Rabier, Radiguet, Renefer, Roubille, Steinlen, Strimp, Testevide, Vallotton, Van Dongen, Véber, Villon, Widhopff, Willette