The auction in support of Mánes again raised approximately three million crowns

Prague - Approximately three million crowns were raised by a charity auction, in which artworks from the collections of the Foundation of Czech Visual Arts were auctioned today. The proceeds from the auction will be included in the funds allocated for the reconstruction of the Prague Mánes. A similar amount for the repair of the famous functionalist building on the Vltava riverbank was also obtained during a spring auction.
    Today's auction was divided into two parts; in the first part, the company Galerie Art Prague offered collectors 260 paintings and sculptures. Among the artists were names such as Josef Čapek, Václav Špála, Antonín Slavíček, Otto Guttfreund, Jiří Načeradský, Karel Nepraš, František Tichý, and Josef Váchal.
    "The highest price was fetched for Čapek's painting Gypsies," said Vladimír Neubert, the company's CEO, to ČTK. According to him, it sold for three million crowns. The second offered oil painting by Josef Čapek, Man Lying in the Grass, reached a price of two million crowns. Both works from the 1930s come from the collection of industrialist Jan Wiedemann. Špála's Still Life was then auctioned for 2.4 million.
    "However, people also bid a lot to help Mánes," Neubert added. In this part, the artworks had starting prices ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 crowns. According to the CEO, however, the amounts mostly doubled or even tripled in the end. Sixty works from the foundation's collections primarily represented the work of members of the former Fund of Czech Visual Arts, today's foundation, which owns the Mánes building.
    The reconstruction of this significant monument of Czech modern architecture began in April this year and should last until June next year. The gallery is expected to open to the first visitors at the turn of September and October. The main architect of the reconstruction is the HMA studio, with architect Daniela Polubědovová designing the interiors. The functionalist building is expected to return to its original form from the 1930s after the repairs.