Jaroslav Klápště: Epilogue of the Old Most - exhibition opening

April 13, 2023

The Regional Museum and Gallery in Most invites you to the opening of the exhibition of paintings and graphics

Jaroslav Klápště / Epilogue of the Old Most

on April 13, 2023, at 5:00 PM.

The exhibition is organized on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the author's birth and will last from April 14 to August 31, 2023

The work of Jaroslav Klápště (1923-1999) has roots in interwar modernism, with which he came into contact primarily through his teachers at the Applied Arts School – František Tichý and Emil Filla. However, he developed this tradition in a completely original way and thus became one of the exceptional figures of Czech visual art in the second half of the 20th century.

It is no coincidence that a comprehensive exhibition of his work accompanied by a representative catalog was presented in 2015 by Petr Svoboda precisely in Most – in the basement gallery of the dean's church. Jaroslav Klápště regularly traveled from his home in the Bohemian Paradise to Most to artistically capture the decay and demise of the old town, which fell victim to brown coal mining.

From his work in Most, a series of impressive oil paintings, gouaches, and drawings emerged, which are extraordinary not only in the regional context. He uniquely captured the destruction of the Old Most in its full rawness. Other artists were constrained by a pressure that internally prevented them from depicting the dying Most. The explanation may lie in the fact that Jaroslav Klápště always visited for a limited short time and thus did not face, in the true sense of the word, the everyday reality of a city where there was no escape.

The author's works from Most were exhibited many years ago at the castle in Duchcov, in 1978, but in a more intimate setting. Now, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, we return to them here in Most, but with many dozens of exhibits. Without exaggeration, this will be the historically largest exhibition of the author's work from Most.

At the opening, students from the music departments of the F. L. Gassmann Elementary Art School in Most and Otto Liška will perform.

The curator is Mgr. Michal Soukup, director of OMGM.