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The exhibition presents the extensive and attractive collection specializing in stage design. The exhibition Being a Stage Designer shows outstanding scenographers, who have been based in the Czech Republic in various historical periods. The phenomenon of scenography will present itself as art and craft developed as a fusion of visual arts, theatre and architecture. The History of Theatre Department of the National museum will provide original artifacts, set designs in particular, being the proof of the development of theatre and its forms, stage area and operation in our country in the past 350 years.
The exhibition shows engravings made by Italian designer and architect Giuseppe Galli-Bibiena (1696–1757), who also worked at the royal court in Prague. The production of Fux’s opera Costanza e Fortezza in the building and scenery, which took place at the occasion of the coronation of Charles V as the Czech king (1724), became one of the most notable events in baroque theatre culture in our country. The most elaborate version of the proscenium stage and standard scene is illustrated on the model of an ancient city by Angelo Quaglio (1829–1890), who was a stage designer in the 1880s in the Prague Provisional Theatre and National Theatre in Prague. Modern visual trends in scenography are illustrated on the selection from works by Josef Čapek, Bedřich Feuerstein, Vlastislav Hofman, František Muzika, Václav Špála, Alois Wachsman and František Zelenka, leading Czech painters and designers working for big stages (National Theatre in Prague, Theatre at Královské Vinohrady, Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, etc.) as well as small avant-garde theatres (Dada, Liberated Theatre etc.).
The synthetizing trends in the second half of the 20th century are represented by František Tröster and Josef Svoboda. The younger generation, which have blazed a programming trail of deviation from the ornamental artistry, illusiveness and descriptiveness toward action scenography since the 1960s, is represented by Jaroslav Malina and Jan Vančura.
You can visit the exhibition Being a Stage Designer. Transformations of Set Design in the National Museum Collections until April 16, 2019 at the Museum of Czech Puppets and Circus.
