the straightforward portrayal of Nature, in solidly constructed paintings.
Emil Filla, spiritual guide and principal pillar of the society of the “Eight,” continues to remain faithful to cubism, although he once gave evidence of his great talent as a painter in pictures which reflect the art of Daumier and of El Greco. The efforts of the younger generation are directed towards a mid-course between expressionism and cubism. They all aim at the realisation of synthetic expression, but in their search for this goal each takes a different path.
Josef Čapek continues his search. He challenges form, and is not afraid to change the formula of his art. Jan Zrzavý, despite his former modernism, draws nearer to the old tradition, a fact of which the casual observer would not be aware.
The works of the decorative painters evince more intelligible tendencies than is the case in modern painting. In Prague the School of Decorative Art is the centre of these tendencies. Thanks to the endeavours of the artists who have emerged from this school, graphic art and illustrative art have attained to a very high artistic level. The painter František Kysela has restored mural decoration and placarding, and illustrative art is greatly prized both by him and by his friend Jaroslav Benda, most methodical in his graphic works. It is also to V. H. Brunner that the illustration of books and periodicals owes its highly artistic standard. To Zdeněk Kratochvíl must be attributed the development of caricature, which has made such considerable progress in recent years.
The present-day artistic culture of Bohemia is of an amplitude and variety that contrast strikingly with its modest beginnings. Art has become an important element in the national life, and the part it plays is perhaps all the greater in that the nation is a comparatively small one. Even the war was unable to stifle
