This paper considers forms of cultural transfer in decorative design in Central Europe in the second half of the 18th century, focussing on works that combine aspects of both free creative art and artisan craftsmanship. Based on a detailed analysis of a number of works (or parts thereof), the authors show that trends in decoration that had hitherto been broadly interpreted as a somewhat uninventive adoption of fashionable French graphic pattern-books and picture albums in the "goût grec" style (Jean-François de Neufforge, Jean-Charles Delafosse et al.) in fact represented an innovative quest for an original modern synthesis taking its inspiration from classical Roman art (Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Giocondo Albertolli, Carlo Antonini) and developing ideas emerging from the recently introduced teaching of artistic design at the Vienna Academy and from circles close to the imperial court (Johann Baptist Hagenauer, Ignaz Josef Würth et al.). The whole phenomenon in considered within the wider context of official cultural policy at the time of Maria Teresa’s and Joseph II’s economic and administrative reforms and is interpreted as one of a number of processes and strategies which, for various reasons, led to a reduction in transcultural transfer. Decorative design in Central Europe in the latter half of the 18th century thus paid more than lip-service to the ideal of universal culture in the sense of transculturality, interpreting it in a specifically local, middle-European and to some extent "nationalized" way - and, from a historical perspective, with extraordinary success., Pavel Suchánek a Tomáš Valeš., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The article considers the writings of the sculptor Andreas Schweigl (1735-1812) and the painters Ignaz Chambrez (1758-1842) and Josef Heřman Agapit Gallaš (1756-1840). Around the year 1800, these three Moravian artists recorded their thoughts and insights in a number of texts that variously combined the traditional literary genre of artist’s biography with artistic topography, art criticism and a historical interpretation of early Moravian art and culture. Since all three were in some way connected with the new system of art education, the aim of this study is to examine whether and in what way standardized education affected not only their professional careers, but also their thinking. For all three, that thinking was rooted in a historical interpretation of the early art and culture of Moravia. All three discuss the function of art, artistic ideals, and to some extent the concept of the creative genius, as well as reflecting, directly or indirectly, on the theme of decadence as one stage in the cyclical view of history, in line with the paradigm of the age. The author sets out to compare their texts and in general terms show 1) how artists themselves viewed the importance of art education at the end of the 18 century; 2) how they responded to the changing role of the artist in society; and 3) how they defined artistic ideals and the artist’s social purpose. It is the wider implications of these changes in the artist’s social status, and in the function of art in Moravia and Central Europe generally, that form the primary focus of this study., Pavel Suchánek., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy