Everyday Material Culture
One of the most popular works by the ceramicist Helena Johnová (1884−1962) was Black Boy (1912), the figure of an African boy in ‘oriental’ garb. It continued to be produced until 1939 and is a striking illustration of how material culture brought the ‘exotic’ world into the home. In interwar Czechoslovakia the fez became a popular form of headwear among certain trades and the Bohemian town of Strakonice became a significant centre of fez production, exporting the hats widely across the world.
An exhibit from the permanent exhibition The Story of the City of České Budějovice. (c) Matthew Rampley's personal archive
Mouřenín v růžovém by Helena Johnová (1912). (c) Matthew Rampley's personal archive
An exhibit from the permanent exhibition The Story of the City of České Budějovice. (c) Matthew Rampley's personal archive
The ubiquity of everyday material culture meant that it was a powerful vehicle for disseminating and normalising attitudes towards non-European peoples and cultures. Yet how widespread was the ‘exotic’ as a motif in everyday material culture during the period in question, what meanings did it accrue? What kind of commentary did it attract? In socialist Czechoslovakia the applied arts became an important global export article, often in line with wider diplomatic policies. The firm of Sfinx in České Budějovice, for example, exported enamelled ware to Africa and the Middle East in the 1960s with ‘African’ and ‘Arabic’ designs to indicate solidarity with the presumed taste of the export markets. How widespread was this practice? What does it tell us about how Czechoslovak designers thought of cultures beyond Europe and their relation to them?