The National Gallery Prague opened a new permanent exhibition in the Salm Palace on Hradčany Square called Art of Asia across space and time, which presents a selection of approximately 520 works of art from the NGP's rich Asian Art Collection - statuettes, calligraphy, jars, paintings, ceramics, porcelain, a manuscript of the Qur'an... Artefacts from Asia and the Islamic world, which were created over a period of 5,000 years, are set in cultural relations with Central Europe. The exhibition is complemented by an audio guide, a comprehensive catalogue and a children's book; for more demanding visitors or researchers, a printed guide is available, and children can enjoy Children's trail and under the name Studio an interactive space for play, creation and meditation.
After the relocation of the Art of Asia Collection to Salm Palace, also known as the small Schwarzenberg Palace, in 2020, a libretto tailored to this rugged historical interior was gradually created. In the twenty-four rooms, visitors will see art from Japan, Korea, China, Tibet, South and Southeast Asia and the Islamic cultural region.
„For the first time we are presenting our collections in a new context and thematic breakdown. In addition, we are explaining the method of acquisition, i.e. how the works came to be in the NGP collections,“ explains the Director General of the National Gallery Prague Alicja Knastová and adds: „The visual language here helps to learn about the cultural diversity, different schools of thought and spiritual traditions and customs of Asia and the Islamic world.“
The new exhibition, the concept of which began to be prepared about ten years ago, has two main parts. The first shows the cultural and historical context, focusing on the encounter of Central Europeans with the Asian and Islamic world, which was manifested in contemporary collecting, trade and fine art in the Czech lands. The individual halls present Czech responses to Asian exhibitions at world exhibitions in the 19th century, famous Prague shops with goods from the „Orient“, „Oriental“ salons in aristocratic interiors, and important Czech collectors among Orientalists, artists and industrialists such as Vojtěch Lanna, Alois Musil, Bedřich Hrozný, Joe Hloucha, Josef Martínek and Vojtěch Chytil. There is also Asian inspiration in Czech art under the influence of Orientalism or in the interpretation of modernist artists (e.g. Emil Filla).
The second part of the exhibition presents works from the NGP collections that were created over the course of 5000 years. Among the exhibits, which represent just four percent of the Art of Asia Collection, we find Chinese ceramic trays from the 3rd millennium BC, as well as 20th century Chinese masters of ink painting and 21st century Japanese calligraphy. Arranged in thematic contexts, the works bring visitors closer to spiritual traditions, writing and calligraphy, decor and ornament, and the world of people and nature across different Asian cultures. One of the rarest artefacts in this section is a 15th-century Chinese porcelain bowl from the Ming dynasty or a 15th-century Persian manuscript of the Koran.
„The Art of Asia Across Space and Time exhibition, which we are opening today, complements the history of collecting and the cultural history of the Czech lands from the 17th century to the mid-20th century, when the collection of Asian art at the NGP was founded in 1951. Each exhibit has its own collecting provenance, thanks to which we can get to know the diverse network of stories of individual collectors and understand the context of the formation of collections of Asian and Islamic art against the background of Czech history,” Says Markéta Hánová, Chief Curator of the exhibition and Director of the NGP Asian Art Collection.
The exhibition has several layers of information - from simple descriptions of the exhibited works and audiovisual elements to guides with navigation maps and more detailed information to exhibits for visitors with a deeper interest or researchers. The guide will also be available for download on the exhibition website. For children and their parents, the NGP has prepared Children's trail with seven stops across the exposition. Everyone can then use the QR code to download a dramatically prepared audio guide, where visitors are guided through the exposition by actress Pavla Beretová and actors David Matásek and Šimon Krupa. The exhibition also includes an interactive Studio: a space for play, creation and meditation. There is also a comprehensive catalogue of the same name and a children's publication Small and big beauties of Asian art.
Most of the exhibits have been restored and thanks to the meticulous work of more than two dozen restorers, which took about a year and a half, the exhibits have literally come to life. The NGP restoration team, together with external restorers, did an extraordinary job across disciplines - artifacts were restored in a variety of materials - from metal, wood, stone and ceramics to paintings, prints and textiles. In creating the exhibition, NGP collaborated with other institutions and experts, such as the Department of Nuclear Reactors at the FJFI CTU in Prague, to research the contents of Tibetan sculptures using state-of-the-art neutron tomography.
An educational and public programme will bring the exhibition to life in a way that is understandable to audiences of all ages. Younger visitors in particular are invited to Children's trail exposure - Adventures with a compass. In the eight drawers they will find playful stops, inspiring browsing and creative inspiration. They can complete their visit in the interactive Studio. In the exhibition you can also look forward to a regular programme - creative workshops for children and adults, guided tours or lectures with experts and educators. Special guided tours and educational programmes are designed for teachers and schools.
The newly opened exhibition complements the other collection presentations prepared by the NGP in the past years, which reflect almost all of the NGP collections and their richness. These are the Collection of Old Art (the Old Masters I and Old Masters II exhibitions in the Schwarzenberg and Sternberg Palaces and the exhibition Medieval Art in Bohemia and Central Europe 1200-1550 in the Convent of St. 1796-1918: The Art of the Long Century and 1918-1938: The First Republic) and the Collection of Art after 1945 (exhibition 1939-2021: The End of the Black and White Age, also in the Trade Fair Palace).
Exhibition Art of Asia across space and time is open at Salm Palace every day except Mondays from 10 am to 6 pm.
ngprague.cz/gnews.cz - HeK
English 
Czech 
Spanish 
French 
Italian 
Russian 
Chinese 
German