The role of sculpture in the official art of totalitarian regimes: DDR and ČSR 1948 - 1968 compared

The dissertation is dedicated to the under-researched subject of the official sculpture in the DDR and ČSR in the time-frame 1948-1968. By evaluating the material on a broad background of the art historical, historical, cultural and ideological determinants, the dissertation endeavour to provide an accurate insight into the internal processes of the cultural machinery of the Socialist states with regard to sculpture and sculptors. The comparative character of the dissertation contributes to the understanding of the critical questions of art historical research of the period - such as the (in)authenticity of the local varieties of Socialist Realism and relatedness to the SSSR Socrealism, dates of the Socrealism existence, engagement of modernist sculptors, principles of the state/artist relationship or the second life of the Socrealist sculpture