| In the year of the Czech Republic's entrance into the European Union, the Neue Sammlung will present the first retrospective of the work of one of the most influential Czech designers at the Neues Museum in Nuremberg. Prague and New York were the two poles in the life of Ladislav Sutnar (1897 Pilsen - 1976 New York), who is now hailed in both the New World and Europe as one of the great protagonists of modern design. Geometric forms, photomontage, filmic-dynamic compositions, bright colors and a distinct hierarchy of information are all characteristics of Sutnar's style, which today is once again inspiring a generation of young designers. The exhibition installation, for example, is the work of architects from the Prague studio Olgoj Chorchoj, international "shooting stars" on the contemporary Czech design scene. With his designs for toys, book covers, magazines, glasses, tea services, cutlery and for the theater, Sutnar left his mark on the lifestyle of those segments of the pre-war Czech public open to the avant-garde. Sutnar's reformatory ideals and his design principles both had their origins in Russian Constructivism, De Stijl and the Bauhaus. Thanks to his award-winning exhibition designs, Sutnar helped mold the image of Czechoslovakia abroad. In 1939 he immigrated to the United States. His work there in the field of graphic design pointed the way to the future, and created the basis for today's forms of visual communication, from corporate imaging to information design.
The exhibition was initiated by the Museum of Decorative Arts Prague, in cooperation with the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (Smithsonian Institution) in New York. The
exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive monograph in English. Argo publishers,
Prague: Ladislav Sutnar – Design in Action. 392 p., richly illustrated;
design: Studio Machek & Babák (Tomáš Machek, Petr
Babák), Prague;35 Euro |
