collection of drawings

Janoušek Vladimír
Construction in the Landscape, 1969
Hejna Václav
Man at the Table, 1937
Marold Luděk
Drawing
Toyen - Čermínová Marie
Drawing, 1937
Panuška Jaroslav st.
The Devil Carves a Child, 1907
Říčanová Tereza
Images of the World 1, 2013 – 2016
1
6

The drawing collection became a separate entity in the mid-1990s, when an electronic cataloguing system was introduced, and it currently (in 2013) numbers over 1600 items. The fact that the collection was not previously a distinct element and served various purposes (e.g. travelling exhibitions) meant that no overall concept guided the collection.
Drawing plays various roles in individual artists’ creative processes, and perhaps that is why it is more difficult in drawings to trace the development of the modern art movements we see operating in paintings. In consequence the collection is highly diverse, and includes brief sketches and preparatory works, illustrations and factual documentation, as well as abstract works, rendered calligraphically or as automatic drawings, that are intended as the definitive output. Techniques include pencil, ink, crayon, watercolour, gouache, collage, alchemage, froasage, etc. Among the oldest works are several small sketches by Czech romantic artists, although the number of drawings from the 19th century is very small. The core of the collection comprises artists from the 20th century, especially the latter half.