Czech Cubism

Czech Cubism applied the fragmented forms of Cubist painting to buildings, mainly in Prague between about 1911 and 1914. Facades are broken into sharp points, slicing planes and crystalline shapes. Typical details include prism-shaped and pyramidal projections and angled window frames. A later phase after 1918, called Rondocubism, uses round arches, circles and ovals with colorful ornament drawn from folk traditions.

In Prague, Josef Gocar's House of the Black Madonna (1911-1912) stands on Celetna street, and Josef Chochol's Kovarovic Villa (1912-1913) is on Libusina street in Vysehrad. Emil Kralicek and Matej Blecha designed the Diamant House (1912-1913). Pavel Janak redesigned the facade of the Fara House in Pelhrimov in 1913. Rondocubist examples are Gocar's Legiobanka (1921-1923) and Janak's Adria Palace (1922-1925). Art Nouveau (about 1890-1914) was built on curving lines and plant-form ornament; Czech Cubism replaced them with straight edges, flat planes and sharp angles.

Pavel Janak, a student of Otto Wagner in Vienna, became the leading theorist of Czech Cubism with his 1911 article "The Prism and the Pyramid." In 1912 Janak, Josef Gocar, Josef Chochol and Odolen Gregr founded the Prague Art Workshops. Gocar designed the House of the Black Madonna in 1911 and completed it in 1912 in Prague's Old Town, on a reinforced-concrete skeleton, with a baroque statue kept from the building it replaced. Chochol built three Cubist buildings in Vysehrad in 1912-1914, including the Kovarovic Villa.

After Czechoslovakia became independent in 1918, Janak and Gocar developed Rondocubism, which added folk-inspired decoration and round forms. Its best-known buildings are Gocar's Legiobanka, with sculptures by Jan Sturza and a frieze by Otto Gutfreund, and Janak's Adria Palace. Functionalism replaced Rondocubism by the mid-1920s, and Chochol had moved toward Constructivism around 1914. The House of the Black Madonna now holds the Museum of Czech Cubism.