Social Tendencies and Vladimír Astl's Work

One of the main objectives of this thesis is not only to map the life of Czech sculptor Vladimir Astl, but also explore various inspirational sources he might have used when creating social oriented pieces. Those are critical in is work. Typical avatars of plastics with social context are Žízeň (Thirst), Smutek (Sadness) or Stará žena (Old Woman), all of them from the period of 1905 - 1910. The initial chapter shortly discusses social problem which existed during the verge of 19th and 20th century and immediately influenced increasing use of social topics in art. Next chapter elaborates on these topics in more detail and focuses on changes of French society which were closely tied to the occurence of ambitious ideas to build monuments celebrating work of men. This chapter also discusses sculpture in France in more depth with focus on labor-oriented pieces from August Rodin, Jules Dalou and Henri Bouchard. The work of mentioned sculptors was dedicated to monuments celebrating labour. These formed a common inspiration source for social related themes in Czech sculpture of the turn of the 19th and 20th century. Next chapter continues to describe the foreign social tendencies and introduces a Belgian sculptor Constantin Meunier who made a significant impact on Czech lands with his pieces being..