Pietá in the Czech Art in the first half of the 20th Century.

This thesis is concerned with the motif of Pietà in the painting and graphic by the Czech and Czech-German artists in the first half of the twentieth century. It explores the inpirations and influences of the religiously oriented pieces of this set of painters. At the beginning there is summarized the evolution of the iconographic motif of Pietà which was isolated from the motifs of the Lamentation of Christ and the Descent from the Cross. The thesis has two parts. First one focuses on the Czech artists and the second one on the Czech-German artists belonging to the Czech artistic scene in this period. The chapters are named after the intellectual basis and the similarity of expression of the included artists. In the early 20th century Rudolf Adámek was occupied by the motif of Pietà in the association with the contemporary symbolism. Karel Holý shifted the meaning of Pietà to the formulation of the hard human deal as well as František Tichý in his compositions od the Good Samaritan quite similar to the wooden gothic statues of Pietà. The existentialist ideas appeared in the work of Jan Autengruber. Vojtěch Tittelbach mixed the existentialist anxiety with the joyful circus performances. The theme of Pietà became actual in the wartime. Karel Černý responded with several paintings of Weepers with..