Exhibition Beauty as a Goal - Historical Painted Targets

August 24, 2021 - January 16, 2022

EXHIBITION BEAUTY AS A GOAL September 25, 2021 - January 19, 2022

OPENING September 24, 2021 from 7 PM, is part of the museum night.

The exhibition Beauty as a Goal focuses on painted targets, as known from the bourgeois environment of the 18th to the early 20th century. These are associated with the phenomenon of shooting clubs and urban sharpshooting societies, which during this period were part of the club life of most Central European towns and cities. Although painted targets are today considered an example of "folk art," many of them were created by professional and often well-known regional artists. For example, festive targets were painted for the C. k. Prague privileged sharpshooting corps by artists such as Mikoláš Aleš and Josef Mánes. Painted targets are also an important source of information about the social, club, and political life of the respective municipalities and the Czech lands.

The exhibition mainly consists of painted targets from the collections of the Regional Museum and Gallery in Most, but painted targets from the collections of other museums in the Ústí Region will also be represented. Visitors will not only see painted targets but will also be able to familiarize themselves with other beautiful applied arts associated with sharpshooting societies, such as shooting trophies, decorations made of porcelain or glass, uniforms, etc. The gallery's foyer is dedicated to a brief excursion into the history of urban corps and sharpshooting societies and will present a short history of the sharpshooters from Most and Litvínov. Here, visitors will be able to learn about the famous "bird shooting," how master, numerous, and royal shootings differed, how today's sharpshooting societies operate in the Czech Republic, and what today's painted targets look like.

The opening of the exhibition Beauty as a Goal will be part of the Most Museum Night 2021, which will also be dedicated to sharpshooters and shooting art. Visitors to the museum night will witness traditional medieval "bird shooting," can participate in ceremonial shooting at a painted target, and meet members of today's sharpshooting societies.

Curator of the exhibition: Jiří Šlajsna

Regional Museum and Gallery in Most, in the exhibition spaces of the museum building - 2nd floor

Open: Tue - Fri 12 - 6 PM, Sat - Sun, holidays 10 AM - 6 PM