ZDENĚK SKLENÁŘ / Ten Thousand Things - Ten Thousand Years/
Exhibition
Dům U Kamenného zvonu /The Stone Bell/
17/3, 2010 – 6/6, 2010
Tue – Sun 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
This coming April one hundred years will have passed from the birth of a leading figure of Czech art, the painter, illustrator and educator, Zdeněk Sklenář. There is virtually no one in this countrywho would not have come across with hiswork, as for instance Sklenář´s illustrations for the standard edition of Ancient Greek Myths and Legends have been known to junior readers for decades. The wide, indeed universal accessibility and individuality of Sklenář´s output was most recently documented by the sensational success of an exhibition of hiswork staged at the ChinaNational Art Gallery last April. The current extensive retrospective, at The Stone Bell in Prague, is centered most notably around his painting, which came to approximate the status of a legend still during the artist´s lifetime. The artist´s inimitable painterly idiom synthesizes diverse cultural influences across the centuries and regardless of geographic distance.
Admission: CZK 120 / 60
Exhibition curator: Ivo Binder
The exhibition is being organized by the CGP in association with Zdeněk Sklenář Gallery.
The Stone Bell
The origins of the Stone Bell House date, according to the latest constructional and historical researches, from the second half of the 13th century, when a lengthwise building behind the monumental spiral corner with massive perimeter walls was built. The oldest building phase is preserved in the cellars and on the ground floor of the south wing. The second building phase followed in about 1310. At that time there was raised the chapel with rich figurative and ornamental painted decoration covering the walls and the dome. zde
The result of the building rebuilding in the second quarter of the 14th century was the representative municipal palatial house with the tower corner, which is remarkable evidence of the northern French-oriented court lodge that is a unique preserved example of this architecture type in Prague. The dominant feature of the façade richly decorated with gothic architectural components was created with plastic figurative decorations. Its iconographic theme celebrated the idea of kingdom and the royal family - due to this, the assumption arose that the building owner was somebody from the royal court circle.
The typical house sign was placed at the corner of the building in the 16th century. After 1685 and in the 18th century baroque adaptations of the building took place. Preceding a demanding restoration of the Stone Bell House, during which the neo-baroque facade from the 19th century was pulled down, extensive constructional and historical research was carried out, which revealed the Gothic facade. Restoration was finished in 1988 and the City assigned the building to serve as the GHMP exhibiting space for its important exhibition projects. In the building there is a Gallery shop and in the rear part of the building is a café.