JOSEF KOTRBA II

FOUND PAINTER JOSEF KOTRBA

The discovery of paintings from the estate of architect and naive painter Josef Kotrba (1896-1983) was a great surprise and also an inspirational stimulus. The first part of the exhibition in 2023 aroused interest among the public and collectors, but it was far from exhausting the entire collection of Kotrba's paintings. Therefore, the second part is now being presented to the public, the preparation and organisation of which is being carried out by the Museum of the Bohemian Karst in Beroun. Thanks to this cooperation, new knowledge about Josef Kotrba's life and work has been gained, for example, the year of his death has been clarified and the only known and published photograph and report about his work as an architect and builder in Králov Dvůr has been traced. The first part of the exhibition also provided information about another part of Josef Kotrba's estate. Supposedly it contained a considerable number of drawings, building plans and photographs, but almost all of it has been lost because its importance was not previously recognised. Only a few pieces of it survived, including a self-portrait as Charlie Chaplin, whom Josef Kotrba was supposed to resemble. We cordially invite you to a sales exhibition entitled Josef Kotrba II, The Found Painter, which we are holding from 19 September to 31 October.

OUTSIDER ART

The history of modern art has seen repeated waves of interest in non-professional work, for which the name naive art has become common knowledge. Untrained painters and sculptors represent a kind of parallel, internally diverse world existing alongside and outside of art. Over time, a number of technical terms have been coined for this phenomenon, including: naive art, insider art, spontaneous art, primitivism (without pejorative content), the French term art brut, Outsider Art in English, Self-taught Art, Visionary Art, arte irregolare in Italian, naive Kunst in German, Irrenkunst. Some of them try to cover the whole issue, others reflect various substantively and formally incompatible subcategories of this broad field. They include, for example, children's drawing and painting, amateur art, folk art, media art, the work of autodidacts and naive art in the true sense of the word.

HOW CAN YOU REACH US?

You can find us at Goetheho 17/2 in Prague 6 - Bubenč. Open daily (including Saturdays and Sundays) from 11 am to 6 pm. You can reach us by metro or tram to the Hradčanská stop, or take bus 131 to the Sibiřské náměstí stop. You can park your car near the Arthouse Hejtmánek. There are 10 parking spaces in the paid parking zone P6.