The project (a digital exhibition and scholarly catalogue) presents the history of applied-arts schooling in Czechoslovakia after World War II and during the era of state socialism through a historical survey, thematic chapters, and individual case studies. It investigates the changes in this type of education in connection to socio-political and economic shifts, investigates the impacts of democratization and centralization in the education system, and the efforts toward forging close links between professional training per social demand and the needs of industry.
Special attention in the project will focus on the Academy of Applied Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague as the one university-level institution in this field on the national level, yet the scope will also expand to regional secondary applied-arts schools, where the aim was the production of “lower-ranking cadres” for local industry if not preparation for further studies at UMPRUM itself. One of the central aims of the project is drawing attention to previously neglected personalities and themes as they successively appear during research, among them e.g. the situation in the border regions following the postwar expulsion of the German population and its severe impact on local industry, the reaction of applied-arts schooling to changes linked with adaptation to the “scientific-technical revolution” in the mid-1960s, or the specific position of women students, who were a significant majority at the secondary-school level but sharply diminished at all higher levels of study. The results of the research will form the basis for reflecting on the position of applied-arts schooling in the current world as well as its instruction methods and strategies for the future. The project will be realised in 2027.
Veronika Rollová, Johana Lomová
Veronika Rollová, Johana Lomová, Klára Brůhová, Jan Wollner, David Bláha, Tereza Vernerová Volná
Adriena Šimotová, Prague, stained glass, UMPRUM, c. 1958
Věra Lišková, vases, UMPRUM, c. 1958
Miluše Roubíčková, bowl, UMPRUM, c. 1958
Ivo Sedláček, final project, Secondary Applied Arts School in Brno, department of toy design, late 1970s
Unknown author, dress, final project from the atelier of Hedvika Vlková, UMPRUM, 1965
Unknown author, dress for a child, final project from the atelier of Hedvika Vlková, UMPRUM, 1960s
Photographing clothing from the atelier of Hedvika Vlková, UMPRUM, 1950s (?)
Design of a poster for the Centre for Artistic Crafts, Secondary Applied Arts School in Brno, department of exhibitions and arrangement, 1970s (?)
