Exhibition: Seven Journeys of Architect Osvald Polívka (1859-1931)
Exhibition at the Gallery of the Czech Savings Bank at Rytířská 29, Prague 1
Date 3rd July – 28th September 2014, open daily from 10 AM to 6 PM, free entry
The exhibition held on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the opening of the new building of the Prague City Savings Bank provides a basic overview of the work of one of its authors; Osvald Polívka (1859-1931), a remarkable creator of a substantial number of representative, commercial, and residential buildings in Prague during the two decades around the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. The Palace of the Prague City Savings Bank built according to the plans of Wiehl and Polívka between 1891-1894 marked the beginning of Polívka's dazzling career. As a pupil of Josef Zítko from the German Technical University in Prague, an intern with Achille Wolf, a sensitive and perceptive observer of artistic movements as well as technical and construction innovations, he gained a solid foundation for versatile creation, which was characterized by an emphasis on context, artistic sensitivity, imagination, virtuoso work with floor plans, and rich artistic decoration of buildings.
The exhibition of photographs by Věroslav Škrabánek captures a selection of the most important buildings from the rich spectrum of Polívka's realizations. It shows the architect's family background and his working method through previously unpublished documentation from his personal archive. Polívka's artistic creation found expression not only in traditionalist forms of neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque banks and insurance companies but also developed in parallel into a distinct form of richly decorated Art Nouveau commercial and office buildings, while in residential architecture, he used a range from Romanticism to modern rational forms. His buildings are generally characterized by a series of fairy-tale and vegetative motifs, which, along with plastic and painterly decoration, brought new colors to the urban environment.
An accurate representation of Polívka's varied expressive range, craftsmanship, and imagination is provided not only by the facades of well-known Prague buildings such as the Palace U Nováků, Insurance Company Praha, or Topič Publishing House, but also by the elegant and meticulously designed interiors of the City Savings Bank in Rytířská, the Land Bank Na Příkopech, the City Insurance at Old Town Square, or the Mutual Insurance Company in Spálená, and especially the café, restaurant, and lounges of the Municipal House.
In addition to the official form of this prominent Prague architect of the turn of the century, visitors can also view study drawings, sketchbooks, outdoor watercolors, and caricatures, appreciating the architect's virtuoso drawing and sense of humor.
Date 3rd July – 28th September 2014, open daily from 10 AM to 6 PM, free entry
The exhibition held on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the opening of the new building of the Prague City Savings Bank provides a basic overview of the work of one of its authors; Osvald Polívka (1859-1931), a remarkable creator of a substantial number of representative, commercial, and residential buildings in Prague during the two decades around the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. The Palace of the Prague City Savings Bank built according to the plans of Wiehl and Polívka between 1891-1894 marked the beginning of Polívka's dazzling career. As a pupil of Josef Zítko from the German Technical University in Prague, an intern with Achille Wolf, a sensitive and perceptive observer of artistic movements as well as technical and construction innovations, he gained a solid foundation for versatile creation, which was characterized by an emphasis on context, artistic sensitivity, imagination, virtuoso work with floor plans, and rich artistic decoration of buildings.
The exhibition of photographs by Věroslav Škrabánek captures a selection of the most important buildings from the rich spectrum of Polívka's realizations. It shows the architect's family background and his working method through previously unpublished documentation from his personal archive. Polívka's artistic creation found expression not only in traditionalist forms of neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque banks and insurance companies but also developed in parallel into a distinct form of richly decorated Art Nouveau commercial and office buildings, while in residential architecture, he used a range from Romanticism to modern rational forms. His buildings are generally characterized by a series of fairy-tale and vegetative motifs, which, along with plastic and painterly decoration, brought new colors to the urban environment.
An accurate representation of Polívka's varied expressive range, craftsmanship, and imagination is provided not only by the facades of well-known Prague buildings such as the Palace U Nováků, Insurance Company Praha, or Topič Publishing House, but also by the elegant and meticulously designed interiors of the City Savings Bank in Rytířská, the Land Bank Na Příkopech, the City Insurance at Old Town Square, or the Mutual Insurance Company in Spálená, and especially the café, restaurant, and lounges of the Municipal House.
In addition to the official form of this prominent Prague architect of the turn of the century, visitors can also view study drawings, sketchbooks, outdoor watercolors, and caricatures, appreciating the architect's virtuoso drawing and sense of humor.
Dušan Seidl, exhibition author
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