Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague
Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze | |
Type | Public |
---|---|
Established | 1885 |
Rector | prof. ak. arch. Jindřich Smetana |
Location |
Prague, Czech Republic 50°5′19.3″N 14°24′53.4″E / 50.088694°N 14.414833°ECoordinates: 50°5′19.3″N 14°24′53.4″E / 50.088694°N 14.414833°E |
Campus | Urban |
Nickname | VÅ UP |
Website |
www |
The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (AAAD, Czech: Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze, abbreviated VŠUP, also known as UMPRUM) is a public university located in Prague, Czech Republic. University is offering the study disciplines of painting, illustration and graphics, fashion design, product design, graphic design, ceramics and porcelain, photography and architecture.
Establishment
The Academy was founded in 1885 as the School of Applied Arts in Prague (UPŠ). At the time of its establishment it was the first and only state art school in Bohemia. Its mission, according to the founding charter, was “to nurture manpower skillful in the arts for the artistic industry and to train educational staff for applied arts teaching and for teaching drawing at secondary schools.†It was divided into a three-year general education school and follow-up three- to five-year vocational and special schools with the disciplines of architecture, sculpture, drawing, painting, metal working, wood carving, floral painting and textiles.
The faculty staff was chosen from among the leading personalities of Czech culture. The first director of the school was the architect FrantiÅ¡ek Schmoranz Jr. and the teaching staff included FrantiÅ¡ek ŽenÃÅ¡ek (1885-1896), Josef Václav Myslbek (1885-1896), Jakub Schikaneder (1885-1923), Celda KlouÄek (1887-1917), Felix Jenewein (1890-1902) and Friedrich Ohmann (1888-1898). Among the first graduates were Jan Preisler, Stanislav Sucharda, Josef MaÅ™atka, VojtÄ›ch Preissig,[1] FrantiÅ¡ek Kobliha, Bohumil Kafka and Julius Mařák. In 1896, the position of the Academy of Fine Arts (AVU) was reinforced by its nationalization. Some of the teaching staff left UPÅ and the school focused primarily on applied arts. The architect Jiřà Stibral (1886-1920) became the new director. The faculty staff comprised Stanislav Sucharda, Jan Preisler, Karel VÃtÄ›zslav MaÅ¡ek, Alois Dryák, Ladislav Å aloun and Jan KotÄ›ra. KotÄ›ra advocated “unity of visual culture and the creation of a modern style.â€
Art Nouveau period
At the turn of the century, UPÅ became one of the centres of the Art Nouveau movement, inspired by its achievements in the late 19th century. And so the school represented Czech art at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, where it won the prestigious Grand Prix. The new generation of students in the early 20th century included future representatives of Czech Cubism and the interwar avant-garde - Josef ÄŒapek, Václav BeneÅ¡, Josef GoÄár, FrantiÅ¡ek Kysela, Bohumil KubiÅ¡ta, Otakar Novotný, Linka Procházková, Jan Zrzavý, Václav Å pála, Josef Å Ãma, Emilie PaliÄková, Jaroslav Rössler and Pravoslav KotÃk.
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
In 1918, after the creation of Czechoslovakia, UPÅ failed to obtain the “High School of Decorative Arts†status it was aiming for, but nevertheless it strengthened its autonomy. From 1920 it was led by an elected rector and new artistic personalities joined the faculty staff - Pavel Janák, FrantiÅ¡ek Kysela, Jaroslav Horejc, Vratislav Hugo Brunner and Helena Johnová and the art historians AntonÃn MatÄ›jÄek, Václav Vilém Å tech and JaromÃr PeÄÃrka. In its early years of independent status, the school sought to create a “new national styleâ€, though one still based on ornament in the tradition of Art Deco (the successor of Art Nouveau with theoretical manifestos from the beginning of the century). In 1925, the school represented Czechoslovakia at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris, where it received both official recognition and criticism from the perspective of the European avant-garde. Under the growing international influence in the late 1920s, the school began to focus on Constructivism and Functionalism. The architect Otakar Novotný was strongly influenced by the German Bauhaus. Among the graduates of the interwar period were Jan Bauch, Cyril Bouda, Karel ÄŒerný, Toyen, FrantiÅ¡ek Foltýn, ĽudovÃt Fulla, Mikuláš Galanda, FrantiÅ¡ek Gross, FrantiÅ¡ek HudeÄek, Josef Kaplický, AntonÃn Kybal, ZdenÄ›k Sklenář, Karel SouÄek, Ladislav Sutnar, Karel Svolinský, Jiřà Trnka and Ladislav ZÃvr.
Occupation and the postwar period
Following the closure of the universities in 1939, the school replaced AVU until the end of WWII. It thus strengthened its position and by a 1946 Act acquired a new status and the name Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová (The Academy of Applied Arts). A year later, in 1947, study was extended to five years, with studios across the departments of applied architecture, applied painting, applied graphic arts, textiles and clothing, applied sculpture, glassmaking, pottery and ceramics.
After February 1948
After the communist putsch in February 1948, the school was also subjected to the influence of ideological and political dogmatism. The new teachers were subordinated to socialist realism. Nevertheless, the handicraft disciplines – textiles, glass, metal and ceramics – maintained their quality, and in the fifties celebrated figures joined the faculty – such as Adolf Hoffmeister, Arsén Pohribný and Josef Wagner. The graduates of the period included VladimÃr JanouÅ¡ek, VÄ›ra JanouÅ¡ková, HermÃna Melicharová, ÄŒestmÃr Kafka, Milan Grygar, Stanislav KolÃbal, Stanislav Libenský, ZdenÄ›k Palcr, Adriena Å imotová, Jiřà John, Eva Kmentová, KvÄ›ta Pacovská, Olbram Zoubek, Jan HladÃk, Jenny HladÃková, VladimÃr Kopecký, Jiřà Balcar and René RoubÃÄek. One of the school’s successes was the awarding of the Czech pavilion at Expo 58 in Brussels. In the 1860s, the study period was extended to six years and intensive development took place especially in the art and craft disciplines. The Department of Industrial Design was also established at the former ZlÃn School of Art, which was merged with the Academy in 1959.
After 1968
The so-called “consolidation†influenced by the political “normalization†in the early 1970s also affected the school. A number of the personalities who had maintained its quality were obliged to leave. They included FrantiÅ¡ek Muzika, Adolf Hoffmeister, AntonÃn Kybal, Karel Svolinský and Jiřà Trnka. The school was led by conformist Communist Party officials under the Rector Jan Simota (1973-1985) and his successor Jan Mikula.
Today
The school was reorganized after the Velvet Revolution of November 1989. At present (2014) it comprises five practical departments: architecture, design, fine arts, applied arts and graphics and a sixth, theoretical department teaching art history and aesthetics. In total there are 23 studios at the academy. The individual studios are led by respected experts. The Glass Studio is led by Rony Plesl, Ceramics by Maxim VelÄovský, K.O.V. (Concept – Object – Meaning) by Eva Eisler, Fashion Design by Pavel IvanÄic, Fashion and Footwear Design by LibÄ›na Rochová, Textile Design by Jitka Å kopová, Illustration and Graphics by Juraj Horváth, Typography by Karel Haloun, Graphic Design and Visual Communication by Rostislav VanÄ›k, Film and TV Graphics by Jakub Zich, Graphic Design and New Media by Petr Babák, Sculpture by Dominik Lang, Painting by Jiřà Černický, Intermedial Confrontation by Jiřà David, Supermedia by Federico DÃaz, Photography by Hynek Alt and Alexandra Vajd, Industrial Design by Ivan DlabaÄ, Furniture and Interior Design by Jiřà Pelc, Product Design by Michal FronÄ›k and Jan NÄ›meÄek, Architecture I by JindÅ™ich Smetana, Architecture II by Ivan Kroupa, Architecture III by Imrich VaÅ¡ko and Architecture IV by Roman Brychta. The architect JindÅ™ich Smetana has been rector of the Academy since 2011.
Contemporary alumni and tutors include the architects Eva JiÅ™iÄná, Jan Kaplický and Tomáš PilaÅ™, the designers BoÅ™ek Å Ãpek and Dominika Nell Applová, the fine artists Adriena Å imotová, David ÄŒerný, Kurt Gebauer, Jiřà Černický, Václav Cigler and Jaroslav Róna, the graphic designers ZdenÄ›k Ziegler and Klára KvÃzová, the typographer FrantiÅ¡ek Å torm, the film animators Jiřà Barta, Pavel Koutský and Michaela Pavlátová and the theorists Josef HlaváÄek and Jan TomeÅ¡.
The school building
Elevation of the school from 1882
The school building was erected in 1882-1885 according to plans by František Schmoranz Jr. and Jan Machytka inspired directly by the art academies in Paris and Vienna. Originally, the school occupied only the wing on the Alšově nábřežà embankment, while the wing facing Jan Palach Square (Czech: Náměstà Jana Palacha) housed the Academy of Painting.
Name
The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design is called Vysoká Å¡kola umÄ›leckoprůmyslová (VÅ UP) in Czech (literally the “College of Industrial Artsâ€), popularly abbreviated to “UMPRUMâ€, though the same abbreviation is also commonly used for the Museum of Decorative Arts (UmÄ›leckoprůmyslové muzeum - UPM). In neither case, however, is the abbreviation official, nor has it ever been.
References
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