Search Results: Central European avant-gardes from Michael Fagan Fine Art & Rare Books

[The 10 Year Anniversary Exhibition of Czechoslovak Culture in Brno 1928]. Octavo 15x9.5 cm., with 20 photogravure plates of exteriors and interiors of this nation-edifying exhibition in the summer of 1928. A souvenir booklet consisting of superb shots of the fair's modernist structures designed by architect Jiří Kroha (1893-1974). Kroha is esteemed as a foremost exponent of Czech Functionalism. With superb printing from Neubert and Sons. Worldcat finds one holding in North America for this work (Wolfsonian).. Uncommon, and in fine condition.

Prague: Plejada, 1927 Octavo, 1/2-cloth, 48pp. fine frontispiece and book design by Vit Obrtel. Inscribed by Nezval somewhat illegibly, " Priteli Frantisku Hecikovi (?), srdecne k jeho maturite s pranim vseho najlepsiho, Vitezslav Nezval v Praze, 26.VI.1927." Lacks original cover, else vg+.

Prague: Plejada, 1927 Octavo 19.5 x 13.5 cm, cloth with embossed author monogram, 48pp. Fine frontispiece and book design by Vit Obrtel.

Rome: Gangemi editore, 1990 Square quarto, wrappers, 350pp., with original paper wraparound belt. A celebration of Alberto Sartoris, architect par excellence of the 20th century, with extensive biographical material, photos, drawings and documents of his long, distinguished career. This is the exhibition catalogue of the retrospective held at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Rome in May 1990.

Folio 30 x 24 cm, wrappers 12 numbers in 6 issues, year 1, and 4 numbers in 2 issues, year 2, 1947-48 (all published). Original wrappers bound in cloth. Lajos Kassák made an ambitious effort to present a world-class art journal from Budapest under the banner of the Hungarian Council of the Arts, launching it in January 1947. Championing the postwar avant-garde visual art emerging both in Hungary and Western Europe, it had an internationalist approach and attempted to avoid political polarization in contrast to his prewar efforts with MA, DOKUMENTUM, and MUNKA. With his fellow literary associates (Tibor Déry, Sándor Weöres, Ernö Kállai, etc) the intent was to renew communications with the art capitals of Western Europe and the USA and generate open currents of exchange, still under the banner of a socialist humanism but looking westward. Like Ma and Dokumentum, the journal looked at the international art scene as well as the developments in Hungary. The new art presented in these pages,… Read More

Budapest: Alkotás, 1947 Folio 30 x 24 cm, wrappers 12 numbers in 6 issues, year 1, and 4 numbers in 2 issues, year 2, 1947-48 (all published). Original wrappers bound in cloth. Lajos Kassák made an ambitious effort to present a world-class art journal from Budapest under the banner of the Hungarian Council of the Arts, launching it in January 1947. Championing the postwar avant-garde visual art emerging both in Hungary and Western Europe, it had an internationalist approach and attempted to avoid political polarization in contrast to his prewar efforts with MA, DOKUMENTUM, and MUNKA. With his fellow literary associates (Tibor Déry, Sándor Weöres, Ernö Kállai, etc) the intent was to renew communications with the art capitals of Western Europe and the USA and generate open currents of exchange, still under the banner of a socialist humanism but looking westward. Like Ma and Dokumentum, the journal looked at the international art scene as well as the… Read More

Brno: St. Kodl, 1922 Octavo, wrappers, 212pp. Second edition. Essays on the politically extreme elements in the work of the youngest poets. Includes studies of S.K. Neumann and Hora as the refined, Literary Cubism of Richard Weiner and the Capek brothers, Vital Naturalism with Jerábek, Blatný, Štorch, Wolker, Kalista, and Social Experience and Upheaval with Seifert, Horejší and Šalda. A near fine copy.

Brno: Krajske Stredisko Statni Pamatkove Pece, 1970 Quarto 24 x 23.5 cm, wrappers, 34pp. Designed by Frantisek Kalivoda, edition of 1000 copies. catalog for the Retrospective Exhibition of Bohuslav Fuchs in Brno in 1970. Fuchs (1895-1972) was a master architect whose mature works became the hallmarks of Czech functionalism. Signed & dedicated by Fuchs 24.3.1970. Uncommon, with only three library holdings in North America.

Prague: Fr. Borovy, 1920 Octavo,wrappers, 254pp. With 14 full-page illustrations by Josef Capek, 3 of which are linocuts and lithograph cover. Neumann wrote a series of essays on modern art which appeared in journals in the years 1913-1914, formulating a new sense of creation for Bohemia and ultimately the world. This "personal, engaged, combative" approach lay the groundwork for the postwar eruption of art and activism in Czechoslovakia. The collection was published for the first time here with Josef Capek's illustrations. Neumann (1875-1947) was a poet, journalist, translator and a main figure spearheading much of Czech modernism in his writings, especially during the early years of the First Republic of Czechoslovakia. He was a major component in the Tvrdosijni group after 1918 and supported the Devetsil program through the 1920s. Initially a recalcitrant and later dedicated Marxist, his polemics and experimentation gave way to Socialist Realism in the 1930s. An important document,… Read More

Brno: Literární Sdružení Klub OSA, 1926 Quarto 23.5x15.5 cm., wrappers. Issues B and C (all published), 32pp. Extremely scarce avant-garde literary journal issued by the OSA Literary and Art Association at Brno University. Editorial group consisted of František Koukal, Jaroslav Kopa, Zdenek Vašek; international members included Edouard Stavinoha and the literary scholar Antonín Škarka (1906-1979) who is the most renowned of the group. The journal began with the letter B and on the masthead for C it was announced no further numbers would be forthcoming. Both numbers include drama & skits, blasphemy, poetry and theoretical statements of modern art. OCLC finds no copies of this; none found through Czech resources.

Paris: Editions Atelier de Paris, 1934 Quarto 24x16.2 cm., wrappers, 385 (ii)pp. The first edition of a major biography of Endre Ady (1877-1919) with many illlustrations. The contemporary photos of Paris are by André Kertész, commissioned by the author of this biography and a devoted aficionado of Ady himself. Kertész also designed the book. Includes the famous Kertész photo of Ady's favorite café table. Most of the earlier photos are by Aladár Székely (1870-1940), also a close friend of Ady’s noted for his early 20th century portraits. Hungarian text throughout. As for the subject, Ady was the poet who gave birth to a 20th-century voice for Hungarian identity and exerted an overwhelming influence on Hungarian letters up to WWI. He was born into a Transylvanian Calvinist town and family, and tormented througout life by an uninhibited passion for sensual experience and freedom against a strict conscience and authority. At the same time he was… Read More

Cluj-Kolozsvár: Korunk, 1926 Large octavo 21x16.5cm, wrappers, 18pp. Rare manifesto published soon after Kassák’s return to Hungary after six years in Viennese exile. It is the only printing known. The publisher Korunk (Our Era) was an arts and literary Hungarian language journal which flourished in the 1920s. No copies found in North American libraries

Budapest: Merkur (Munka), 1931 Quarto 23.5x16 cm., wrappers, 48pp. Cover design by Kassák with photo by Éva Besnyö; Justus (1905-1965) was a poet, social science author and political ideologue. He worked closely with Lajos Kassák and the Munka group during the 1930s, and this work is an early Munka publication, bearing the same cover design standards of Munka. Justus was engaged in political life, later jailed by the Rákosi régime for life and released in 1956. The present work, a collection of poems calling for social vision and remaking of man, made a strong impact in the literary community. Photographer Éva Besnyö, student of József Pécsi, is well known for her work for children’s books later in exile. Rare, early Munka publication: no library copies held outside of Hungary.

Vyšehrad (Prague): F. Svoboda, 1926 Octavo 21x14.5 cm., in publisher's ½-cloth, 108(4) pp., with 7 linocuts by Václav Kovárna. František Kovárna (1905-1952) was an art theorist, critic and essayist. He ventured into trans-rationality with his dadaist book 1+1=3. He edited many of the leading journals such as Nové smery and founded Kritický mesicník; he held several professorships at Charles University. An outspoken advocate of free public discourse, he became a bete-noir of the communist party and was expelled from all his professional positions in 1948 after which he emigrated to Germany and finally the USA. Kovárna was sentenced to death in absentia by the Gottwald regime. His brother Václav (1896-?) is known as an academic painter, but here he is the cubo-expressionist in some very strong work. This is Kovárna’s first published work. The title translates as The Reticent and the Thuggish. OCLC locates two copies… Read More

Octavo 21x14 cm., wrappers, 13(3) pp. 19/150 copies. Dvorak (1901-1958) began his life work as a poet; this is his second collection. Later he achieved success with biographic prose and organized anthologies. He moved to Prague in 1939 with the founding of the Slovak State pursued a distinguished career in literary and political circles. With drawings by O. Ondracka. Signed by the illustrator in colophon. OCLC finds no institutional holdings worldwide. A very good+ copy.

Ceske Budejovice: Edice Gemini, 1937 Large octavo 18.5 x 12 cm., wrappers, 20pp., printed on hand-made paper in an edition of 200. Book design, typography and three illustrations by Bartuska in the sixth of the Edice Gemini series. Exquisite bibliophile production for the poems of Ružená Žižková. A fine copy. Worldcat finds this in 5 North American libraries

Prague: Odeon, 1993 Quarto, cloth, 328pp. Second, revised edition. The most thoroughly researched monograph on this artist written to date, with a catalogue raisonné, numerous photos and anecdotes. Kubista (1884-1918)was a groundbreaking artist, a major contributor to the unique cubo-expressionism that flourished in Bohemia in the 1910s. His life was cut tragically short but he left a powerful legacy and inspiration for Czech modernism. In Czech language, with summaries in English, French and German. An indispensable reference. Fine copy in near fine dust wrapper.

Octavo 20.5x11.5 cm., full-calf, 85(6) pp. (The Divinity of Holy Woman. A Fragment) With a fine lithograph by Josef Capek for the frontispiece from his late cubist period. S.K. Neumann was an oversize literary figure and social activist from the early 1900s, first as an anarcho-communist and founder of the Communist party in the First Republic, soon after the October Revolution. A poet, critic and novelist he wielded a great influence as an antifascist in the 1930s and promoted Socialist Realism. Awarded Artist of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1945. He was Jaroslav Seifert's mentor; Seifert dedicated his first book of poems to him. A fine bibliophile book, custom bound in calf. This copy in fine condition.

Brno: Blok, 1970 Quarto, decorated cloth, 94(2)pp., 36 plates. A fine study of modernist architecture as it developed over the first decade of the First Republic of Czechoslovakia. Led by architects Bohuslav Fuchs and Arnost Wiesner, Brno became a leading center of architectural design in Central Europe and gave rise to some of the most successful Functionalist buildings in the day. The survey includes lesser known but important architects such as Alois Kuba, Bohumil Cermak, Josef Polasek, Jaroslav Grunt, Jindrich Kumpost, inter alia. Replete with illustrations. Czech text with English and German summaries.

Splendid, erotic, quasi-surrealist Muzika drawingsSmall octavo 13.5 x 9.7 cm, custom ½-calf, 77pp., no. 157 in an edition of 350; Published by Stanislav K. Neumann. A fine little work with five exquisite drawings by František Muzika in a Czech translation with a foreword of the poetry of Martial by Josef Dietrich. Muzika's artwork of this time combines elements of classical and erotic elements with surrealist space (he never formally aligned himself with the surrealist movement). Found in three North American libraries. Very fine artwork in a bibliophile production, in near fine condition.