<translation>For Jan Kotěra</translation>
He died suddenly and prematurely, the greatest Czech architect of our time, the founder and builder of our modern architecture, who was the father and guardian of the best efforts of today's entire generation, which will always return to him. Only his unexpected departure made everyone aware of the full significance of his generous personality. The entire community of modern Czech architects who were connected with him in the present are bound to him by friendship, respect, or gratitude. Whether as a colleague or as a direct or indirect teacher, he was to all the first and most powerful representative of modern Czech architectural thought. He initiated a new era in Czech construction, and his name is closely tied to the most beautiful efforts of Czech art at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Rarely does fate place the emergence of a new artistic idea in the personality of someone so called to the difficult and significant task, as was Kotěra. He was, in spirit and truth, an artist and a man of great style, who, with all his instincts and consciousness, vigilantly, devotedly, and unwaveringly guarded the purity and integrity of the new idea, and defended its honor amidst a flood of pettiness, misunderstanding, hatred, and malice. Opponents of modern efforts in Czech architecture knew well why they concentrated their fight on Kotěra, why they sought to diminish the influence of his personality, why they aimed to trivialize the fundamental greatness of the movement splendidly personified in Kotěra. Only a spirit so elevated above the pettiness of today, above all the resentment of creatively incapable enemies, who impressed everyone with the certainty and strength of his thought, could ensure the victory of the new style.
The powerful creative spirit of Kotěra and his pure artistic character knew no bargaining, no compromises, and no retreats. Kotěra paid dearly for these artistic virtues, which often blockaded his path, which could have been far richer in external successes given his talent and abilities, had he chosen to work with the usual means that safely and conveniently lead to popularity and wide recognition. Kotěra never succumbed to even the most tempting offers that contradicted the principles of his artistic program and his life's work. Let us recall how many times Kotěra gave up brilliant opportunities at the cost of character purity, thereby saving the honor of modern Czech architecture. Here let us mention just two cases that illustrate Kotěra’s artistic personality in its typical leadership stance.
In 1908, he was invited by the Austrian nobility to construct a representative pavilion for a hunting exhibition in Vienna, with the sole condition that the building be of a Baroque character. Kotěra refused this condition and completely abandoned this task, the fulfillment of which could have opened the most splendid possibilities for him. And when, after six years of work on the university project in 1913, the heir to the throne scrapped his plans citing the need to create a similarly Baroque proposal, Kotěra did not comply with this request and presented a proposal a year later that was in agreement with the original design. He would have abandoned this lifelong dream at the cost of retreating and betraying all our modern efforts, for which he felt a beautiful and profound responsibility as a pioneer and teacher.
Kotěra's greatness, both human and artistic, has provided our cultural development with far more successes than the ungrateful present can comprehend, measure, and acknowledge. Let us recall the fate of his university project, into which Kotěra invested not only sixteen years of diligent work but also his most mature artistic expression. If death prevented him from completing the peak of his lifelong work, it is the natural obligation of the entire generation he brought to life to unite entirely in realizing Kotěra's artistic and cultural great legacy.
Rarely does fate place the emergence of a new artistic idea in the personality of someone so called to the difficult and significant task, as was Kotěra. He was, in spirit and truth, an artist and a man of great style, who, with all his instincts and consciousness, vigilantly, devotedly, and unwaveringly guarded the purity and integrity of the new idea, and defended its honor amidst a flood of pettiness, misunderstanding, hatred, and malice. Opponents of modern efforts in Czech architecture knew well why they concentrated their fight on Kotěra, why they sought to diminish the influence of his personality, why they aimed to trivialize the fundamental greatness of the movement splendidly personified in Kotěra. Only a spirit so elevated above the pettiness of today, above all the resentment of creatively incapable enemies, who impressed everyone with the certainty and strength of his thought, could ensure the victory of the new style.
The powerful creative spirit of Kotěra and his pure artistic character knew no bargaining, no compromises, and no retreats. Kotěra paid dearly for these artistic virtues, which often blockaded his path, which could have been far richer in external successes given his talent and abilities, had he chosen to work with the usual means that safely and conveniently lead to popularity and wide recognition. Kotěra never succumbed to even the most tempting offers that contradicted the principles of his artistic program and his life's work. Let us recall how many times Kotěra gave up brilliant opportunities at the cost of character purity, thereby saving the honor of modern Czech architecture. Here let us mention just two cases that illustrate Kotěra’s artistic personality in its typical leadership stance.
In 1908, he was invited by the Austrian nobility to construct a representative pavilion for a hunting exhibition in Vienna, with the sole condition that the building be of a Baroque character. Kotěra refused this condition and completely abandoned this task, the fulfillment of which could have opened the most splendid possibilities for him. And when, after six years of work on the university project in 1913, the heir to the throne scrapped his plans citing the need to create a similarly Baroque proposal, Kotěra did not comply with this request and presented a proposal a year later that was in agreement with the original design. He would have abandoned this lifelong dream at the cost of retreating and betraying all our modern efforts, for which he felt a beautiful and profound responsibility as a pioneer and teacher.
Kotěra's greatness, both human and artistic, has provided our cultural development with far more successes than the ungrateful present can comprehend, measure, and acknowledge. Let us recall the fate of his university project, into which Kotěra invested not only sixteen years of diligent work but also his most mature artistic expression. If death prevented him from completing the peak of his lifelong work, it is the natural obligation of the entire generation he brought to life to unite entirely in realizing Kotěra's artistic and cultural great legacy.
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