Art and Cultural Criticism
In 1927 the avant-garde composer, dramatist and theorist Emil Burian published a book on jazz. Two years later he published a book on African tribal dance. These were to be followed, in 1938, by The Art of Primitive Peoples by the painter and critic Josef Čapek. They were examples of a small Czech-language literature on non-European art and culture that grew notably in the post-war era; scholars such as Jaroslav Průšek (1906–1980), Lubor Hájek (1921–2000) and Eva Rychterová (1930–), constituted a distinctive voice, but it is one that has never been examined in any systemic or critical way.
Cover of the book JAZZ by Emil F. Burian (1928). (c) Matthew Rampley’s personal archive
Cover of the book Kuo-Chua by Adolf Hoffmeister (1954). (c) Matthew Rampley’s personal archive
Cover of the book Umění přírodních národů by Josef Čapek (1949). (c) Matthew Rampley’s personal archive
The project examines these examples of writings on ‘world’ art and culture, in the light, too, of the changing socio-political contexts in which they were produced. It has long been argued that writings by European scholars on global cultures were produced from a position of power. However, how might we view the writings by authors based in a semi-peripheral state such as Czechoslovakia? What kinds of critical lens should we apply to this body of criticism, history and theory?