The eye is a spy you cannot be angry at

We warmly invite all those who have either attended Dalibor Chatrný’s modern art school during their studies at ŠUŘ, or who are interested in the work of this extraordinary artist of the second half of the 20th century.

The event will take place on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at 5:00 PM at the House of Arts on Malinovského Square. It will begin with an opening talk by Terezie Petišková on what we know about Dalibor Chatrný’s teaching methodology. Afterwards, we will share experiences of the attendees regarding specific assignments and the teaching methods that Dalibor Chatrný cultivated at ŠUŘ for twenty-three years. The influence of Dalibor Chatrný’s creative methods can still be observed today in the artistic expressions of many contemporary artists.

Please bring works you created during your studies with Dalibor Chatrný. We look forward to hearing about your experiences. Our meeting will help deepen the understanding of the mindset and approach of this remarkable artist and educator.

Contact person: Terezie Petišková, e-mail: [obfuscate_1_|110|101|112|101|110|105|111|114|93|59|98|117|105|41|112|107|101|106|101|41|97|122].

Dalibor Chatrný’s artistic work is remarkably intertwined with his pedagogical activity. His notes, preserved in the family archive, document his deeply engaged reflection on questions concerning the possibilities of representation, art, and the world in general. When he began teaching at ŠUŘ in the early 1960s, he was simultaneously exploring various experimental methods in his own work, which he began to prioritize over the purely visual quality of his pieces. His new creative procedures emerged from direct observation of the world—a process he called “hunting.” He would walk slowly through the city, smiling kindly, carefully observing what was happening around him.

In his notes from the early years of his teaching career, we read, for example: “I began (at that time) to irrevocably trust the elemental values, both in life and in the corresponding values of expressive means,” or that “within the artistic means themselves, in their structure, lies a force that can be taught individually, created with, expressed through, and understood personally, if our essential energy resonates with it…” Elsewhere, we find surprisingly clear statements by the artist about his own creative—and somewhat pedagogical—method: “Only when I ask nature the right questions do I receive surprisingly clear answers.”

The handwritten records that his daughter Dana Chatrná designated as pedagogical also reveal much about the intellectual background of the artist’s thinking. He primarily cited Czech modern sources of inspiration, but his private notes attest to a broad awareness of international avant-garde art, particularly the direct influence of numerous Bauhaus artists.

Students at ŠUŘ in the graphic arts program led by Dalibor Chatrný learned both classical historical reproduction techniques and a methodological approach to assigned tasks. They also engaged in specific experimental assignments intended either to develop the students’ imagination and expand their perception of reality, or to allow Dalibor Chatrný to test questions he himself explored in his own work.

ABOUT EXHIBITION

How did modern art and design emerge in Brno? What were the methods used for arts-and-crafts education? And how did the former School of Arts and Crafts become today’s Secondary School of Art and Design and Higher Professional School in Brno? The present exhibition captures the century-long story of one Central European institution that combined local folkloric traditions with the experimental artistic avant-garde, servility to political establishments with daring intellectual freedom, and traditional craft skills with new media. In short, it presents the outcome of team research, published in greater detail in the book bearing the same title.

The exhibition is divided into six chronological sections. Each one is framed by specific historic events that often had a significant impact on the school and its activities. From the other side, the exhibition can also be understood as a report – although incomplete – on Brno’s artistic activity through the prism of a single secondary arts school.

The exhibition’s title By the Head and by the Hands refers to the unique traits of artistic work and artistic education. Specifically, it recalls several pedagogic approaches given attention in the exhibition. More generally, in turn, it implies the attempt to capture the ever-changing ideas of the social significance of art, or how someone can actually become an artist.

The School of Arts and Crafts (abbreviated as ŠUŘ), founded in 1924 by the Chamber of Commerce and Trade in Brno, was established as a distinctly modern alternative to the predominantly German-language institutions of a similar type that had existed in Moravia since the late 19th century. It also aimed to stand apart from Prague’s Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM) and comparable schools in Austria and Germany. During both the First Republic and the 1940s under the Protectorate, the faculty at ŠUŘ intentionally focused on cultivating a modern, locally rooted cultural identity—fostering artistic production that would bridge international modernism with Moravian regional traditions.

Over the years, ŠUŘ has been home to many prominent educators, including Emanuel Hrbek, Josef Vydra, Petr Dillinger, Božena Rothmayerová-Horneková, Viktor Oppenheimer, Jaroslav Král, Karel Langer, Jan Lichtág, František Kalivoda, Zdeněk Rossmann, Antonín Jero, František Malý, Josef Vydra, Bohdan Lacina, Josef A. Šálek, Jindřich Svoboda, Karel Otto Hrubý, Marie Filippovová, Dalibor and Ivan Chatrný, Pavel Dias, Vladimír Židlický, Pavel Dvorský, Jan Rajlich, Emanuel Ranný, and Petr Veselý. The school also counts many well-known former students among its alumni, such as František Povolný, Bohumír Matal, Ester Krumbachová, Teodor Rotrekl, Inez Tuschnerová, Jiří Pelcl, Josef Daněk, Blahoslav Rozbořil, Václav Jirásek, Kateřina Šedá, Barbora Klímová, and many others. Today, the former ŠUŘ is officially known as the Secondary School of Art and Design, which also includes the Higher Vocational School of Brno.

The exhibition marking the school’s centenary builds on the results of art-historical research conducted by the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM) in collaboration with invited experts in the field. It focuses on exploring newly uncovered or lesser-known aspects of the school’s history and present, drawing from the preserved works of its notable teachers and graduates as well as from ŠUŘ’s archival collections. These sources, which go beyond the grand narratives of art history, also shed light on the everyday workings of the school and its teaching methods—including textbooks, instructional aids, and meeting notes. Through detailed thematic digressions within their historical context, the exhibition opens up smaller, focused studies that contribute to a more nuanced and complete picture of the institution.

The research was partially funded by the Czech Ministry of Culture through the NAKI III program (Support for Applied Research in National and Cultural Identity), as part of the project Sites of Creativity: Arts and Crafts Education—Constructing Identity, Preserving the Past, Designing the Future (DH23P03OVV061). The grant recipient is the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague: mistatvorivosti.umprum.cz.

The main media partner of the exhibition is Czech Television.
The exhibition is held under the auspices of the Governor of the South Moravian Region Jan Grolich and the Mayor of the City of Brno Markéta Vaňková.