The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (AVU) is a public art university. Founded in 1799, it is the oldest art academy in the Czech Republic and one of the oldest in Central Europe, currently headed by Tomáš Pospiszyl, an art historian and curator.
After a failed attempt in 1709, it was founded ninety years later as a private institution on the instigation of the Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts. This organisation, made up of enlightened patriots from the ranks of the aristocracy and urban bourgeoisie, first created the Picture Gallery, the forerunner of what is today the National Gallery, and then a drawing academy. This was approved by Imperial Decree on 10 September 1799 and what was at that time called the Kunstschule Patriotischer Kunstfreunde in Prag opened its doors in 1800 in the premises of what had been the college in the Klementinum. Under its first director, Josef Bergler, there was a focus on drawing using templates in the spirit of the classical principles of the time.
Later a freer approach was encouraged, especially in the new School of Landscape Painting headed by Karel Postl and in the printmaking workshop. During the 1840s the Academy was reorganised along the lines of the Royal Art Academy in Munich. The curriculum focused on life drawing and the historical painting fashionable at that time, and for a short while included lectures on theoretical aspects of anatomy, art history and architecture.
The nineteenth century
At the end of the nineteenth century the Academy found itself facing both an artistic and financial crisis. Obsolete teaching methods, a conservative mindset and a focus on painting to the exclusion of other media all made for protracted problems. The deadlock was eventually broken by a series of reforms made by the rector, Julius Mařák. Theory returned to the curriculum, and the faculty was reinforced by prominent artistic personalities such as Maxmilián Pirner, Vojtěch Hynais, Václav Brožík and František Ženíšek. Above all, the teaching profile was expanded by the creation of a special School of Sculpture headed by Josef Václav Myslbek.
The watershed – the first university-level art school in this country
A watershed was reached in 1896, when on the initiative of several leading benefactors of Czech art, including Count Karel Buquoy, Vojtěch Lanna and Josef Hlávka, the academy was nationalised and became the Imperial and Royal Academy of Art in Prague. In the preamble to the new educational statutes of the Austrian Ministry of Culture and Education promulgated in the same year, the Prague Academy was defined as an institute of higher education, i.e. the first university-level art school in this country. Along with the academies in Vienna and Krakow it became one of only three public state universities in Austria-Hungary, providing an all-round tertiary education in painting and sculpture. It was by now ranked amongst the leading institutions of its kind in Europe. After the creation of Czechoslovakia, a government regulation of 1919 conferred upon it a new name – the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. In 1910 the range of subjects studied was further expanded by the Max Švabinský and August Brömse Special Printmaking School, and the Jan Kotěra School of Architecture.
After years of provisional accommodation, the Academy finally found a permanent home in a new building on Letná built in 1898–1903 and designed by the architect Václav Roštlapil. In 1994–1998 the building underwent comprehensive refurbishment and is the headquarters of the Academy to this day. Next door is the building of the School of Architecture designed by Jan Kotěra and Josef Gočár in 1922–1924, which was also subject to modification in 2019. With small breaks from 1893 and permanently from 1945 onwards, the Academy acquired the premises of the Modern Gallery, built in the grounds of Výstaviště as part of the General Land Centennial Exhibition in 1891 by the architect Antonín Wiehl. Large-scale renovations took place in 2001–2006. In 1947 growing demand saw the opening of a restoration department, a discipline associated with the name of Bohuslav Slánský.
Structure and staff
As well as the figures already mentioned, names associated with the Academy include some of the most important Czech artists and theoreticians: Antonín Mánes, František Tkadlík, Max Haushofer, Eduard Engerth, Josef Trenkwald, Antonín Lhota, Hanuš Schweiger, František Thiele, Vlaho Bukovac, Karel Krattner, August Brömse, Josef Loukota, Jan Preisler, Jan Štursa, František Kupka, Willi Nowak, Vratislav Nechleba, Otakar Nejedlý, Otakar Španiel, Bohumil Kafka, František Tavík Šimon, Antonín Matějček, Václav Vilém Štech, Jaroslav Fragner, Vladimír Sychra, Vincenc Makovský, Jan Lauda, Karel Pokorný, Karel Hladík, František Cubr, Karel Souček, Jiří John, Jan Smetana, Vlastimil Rada, František Jiroudek, Arnošt Paderlík, Stanislav Hanzík, Vladimír Silovský, Ladislav Čepelák... the list is endless. Artists who have had a hand in forging the visual culture of this country have passed through the portals of the Academy. Given the conservative character of its tuition, the Academy has embodied values against which emerging generations of artists have defined themselves. Periods of progressive development alternated with times of ideological diktat and a loss of contact with events on the wider art scene. Fundamental reforms were prepared but not effectuated in 1968, and the academy was to have to wait until 1990, when its concept, structure and staff were subject to overhaul under the leadership of the newly elected rector Milan Knížák.
The twenty century a new desciplines
During the 1990s the range of subjects taught was expanded by disciplines such as new media, intermedia and drawing. At the same time more classically oriented subjects were consolidated and the need recognised for a plurality of studies representing both traditional and experimental approaches. A new Academy arose reflecting the diversity of opinions and support for the widest range of artistic approaches, the principles of which were applied by a faculty comprising the leading representatives of the visual arts of their day: Hugo Demartini, Bedřich Dlouhý, Jan Hendrych, František Hodonský, Milan Knížák, Stanislav Kolíbal, Karel Malich, Jiří Načeradský, Karel Nepraš, Emil Přikryl, Jiří Sopko, Karel Stretti, Jitka Svobodová, Miloš Šejn, Aleš Veselý, Zdeněk Beran, Michael Bielický, Vladimír Kokolia, to mention just a few. In 1990 the Sculpture Restoration School was created and in 1991 the latest school to date, that of New Media, which focuses on video art and computer animation. Other changes took place at a more leisurely pace under the leadership of the rectors Jiří Sopko and Jiří T. Kotalík. The programme of the Department of Art Theory and History was reformed, and an Academic Research Department created focusing on art theory and restoration. Publishing and the organisation of exhibitions have always occupied an important role in the Academy’s activities. Radical reform undertaken in 1990 allowed for the full restoration of the statutes and operation of the school as a prestigious educational institution open to a range of aesthetic approaches characteristic of contemporary art. These measures served to reinforce the traditional status of AVU as an outstanding institution for the teaching of free art, architecture and restoration. At present the Academy runs accredited Master’s and Doctoral programmes and is authorised to hold habilitation proceedings and appoint its own professors.
Since the start of the twentieth century the Academy has also been using the studios located in what is today Jan Zajíc Street. Originally used by sculpture lecturers, these days the premises, which the Academy only rents, are where the foundation course in painting and sculpture is taught. In 2001 the academy received the Šaloun Studio in Vinohrady in restitution proceedings, and in 2006–2007 the original building, built in 1911, was extensively refurbished. As the Visiting Artist Studio, it has welcomed many internationally renowned artists who passed on their knowledge and experience to students of the Academy during a one-semester stay. Šaloun Studio is now the home of Art in Context, AVU's international MA programme in English.