The Year of Jan Kotěra will offer exhibitions, lectures, and walks

Prague - The Year of Jan Kotěra will offer a series of exhibitions, lectures, guided walks, seminars, excursions, and other events in Prague, Hradec Králové, Zlín, Prostějov, and Kamenice nad Lipou. This evening, it was launched at the Trmal Villa in Prague-Strašnice to celebrate the 140th anniversary of this giant of Czech modern architecture.
    Here, for just one week, a unique set of furniture that Kotěra created in 1901 for the apartment of patron Ferdinand Tonder, a lawyer and provincial representative of the heir to the throne Ferdinand d'Este, is on display. This was one of his first commercial commissions. He designed an oriental salon dominated by a large painting by Max Švabinský titled Poor Country, tinged with purple and turquoise colors, so typical of the then perception of orientalism. The interior design included a hexagonal larger table and a similar smaller table, a built-in sofa in the colors of the wallpaper, a central star-shaped chandelier, a smaller hanging chandelier for the seating area, an originally designed piano, and a delicate display case made of maple and rosewood. The black furniture and sketches are owned by the Museum of Applied Arts in Prague.
    The coordinating center of the project is the Trmal Villa, designed by Kotěra, which serves as the headquarters of the art agency Foibos. "We want to familiarize the public with his life and work, present his architectural and design works, and also draw attention to the works of his contemporaries, students, and followers," was heard at the launch of the guide to Trmal Villa, which is part of it. Its history is presented through text, plans, and period as well as contemporary photographs. It summarizes the personality of architect Jan Kotěra, recalls the inhabitants of the villa, and the so-called second life of the house, its reconstruction, and current use.
    Jan Kotěra was an architect of international significance, a leading figure in Czech modern architecture. He influenced not only his students at the School of Applied Arts but also almost an entire generation of architects entering practice in the first decades of the 20th century. Among them were Bohuslav Fuchs, Josef Gočár, Otakar Novotný, and Kamil Roškot. Among his friends were sculptors Jan Štursa and Stanislav Sucharda and painter Jan Preisler.
    The peak of Kotěra's creative period, framed by the years 1905-1913, is represented by his own villa on Hradešínská Street and the Laichter House in Prague's Vinohrady, the water towers in Prague Michle and Třeboň, the Mozarteum Palace on Jungmannova Street, and two houses on the Hradčany ramparts. An important chapter in his work includes modern workers' garden colonies in Králův Dvůr, Baťa's Zlín, Rožnov, and Louny. The highlight is the building of the Hradec Králové City Museum.