Sculptural Decoration of First Czechoslovak Republic's Administrative Buildings

We can consider the sculptural decoration of first Czechoslovak Republic's administrative buildings to be one of the typical manifestations of its time. In its iconography it translated to its contemporaries, as well as to the future generations, the basic ideological motives which the representative, artists and major part of the society considered to be the most important for the existence of the young democratic state. Their message is so clear that even today it can be understood. This thesis discusses in the first chapter the roots of basic iconographical circles (labor, working people) in the Czech art of the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century. Afterwards it focuses on the wider conditions of European art leading to the growing interests in realistic, neo-classical art and new objectivity. Following parts are aimed on arrival of civilism into the Czech interwar art scene and discuss the terms social art, social realism and social civilism and its possible use in the scope of sculptural decoration of administrative buildings. Then continues the overview of the most important iconographical motives which penetrated into the field of the sculptural decoration with special focus on the Czechoslovak pavilion at the International exhibition of decorative arts in Paris 1925. The following..