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The cycle of art exhibitions called Smetana's Creative Litomyšl accompanies the Smetana's Litomyšl International Opera Festival every year. Originally a mere complement to the festival, it has gained its own repute and has become an independent cultural event enriching the Czech creative arts season. It is held in the Litomyšl galleries as well as places that become exhibition venues only during the event. In this way it discloses new places and amazing secluded spots for the visitors to this picturesque town.
Smetana's Creative Litomyšl is organised by Smetanova Litomyšl, o.p.s. in co-operation with the East Bohemian Gallery in Pardubice, City Gallery in Litomyšl, City Gallery in Vysoké Mýto and Zdeněk Sklenář Gallery. The manager is Jiří Lammel. The main advertising partner of Smetana's Creative Litomyšl is Komerční banka, a.s., the financial partners are the Pardubice Region and Litomyšl municipality.
Even the first year of the Smetana's Litomyšl Opera Festival in 1949 was complemented with a concurrent exhibition of fine arts. On Saturday 4 June 1949 in the afternoon the exhibition "Masters of the Czech 19th Century Art" was opened. We can say therefore that Smetana's Creative Litomyšl has a history as long as the music festival. Even though the visual art exhibitions were held almost every year, only from the beginning of the 21st century the project was being prepared systematically. In 2000 the sculptures by Arnold Bartůněk were displayed in the Castle Brewery and photographs by Jan Šibík were displayed in Toulovcovo náměstí; in 2001 Jadran Šetlík decorated the rooms for invited guests; in 2002 Jiří Moták exhibited his spiritual art in the same rooms. An exhibition of Bohdan Kopecký took place in 2003; a new series of paintings created by this author in Hawaii in 2003 was exhibited in 2004.
The year 2004 was a milestone in Smetana's Creative Litomyšl history. The cycle of exhibitions can be deservedly marked as the year zero. In the rooms of the former castle brewery newly built to Josef Pleskot's design the work of Ladislav Novák was displayed, the giant Chair by Magdaléna Jetelová was installed in the Monastery Gardens. The exhibitions of fine art were opened by Minister of Culture Pavel Dostál and Mrs Meda Mládková. During their short life (only during the opera festival) these exhibitions were viewed by many visitors and their success inspired the organiser to institutionalising the event, giving it a name and a solid structure. The 2005 session was already being organised as Smetana's Creative Litomyšl. Among the founders were the director of East Bohemian Gallery in Pardubice Martin Dostál, deputy governor of the Pardubice Region Miroslav Brýdl, director of Smetana's Litomyšl Opera Festival Jan Pikna, director of Kampa Museum Jiří Lammel, gallery owner Zdeněk Sklenář, director of City Gallery in Litomyšl Helena Zemanová and director of City Gallery in Vysoké Mýto Pavel Chalupa. From the beginning the plan was to tie the exhibitions with Smetana's Litomyšl Opera Festival and this is why the name of Bedřich Smetana - seemingly illogically - was used in the name of exhibitions of fine art. (Mařák's Creative Litomyšl inspired by another Litomyšl native would have undoubtedly sounded equally good; naming it after painter Antonín Dvořák, another famous Litomyšl native who worked in Litomyšl in the 19th century, would have certainly been witty.)
The very first year started with important events: the work by Karel Malich was installed in Josef Pleskot's rooms. The exhibition called "From the Czech Meadows and Woods" introduced the 19th century Czech fine art as did the first exhibition in 1949. In the newly opened Kubík Gallery in Litomyšl square visitors could see an exclusive exhibition "Café de la gare - Ways of French Photographs". American painter Catherine Cabaniss exhibited in the VIP lounge and Jaroslav Horálek installed his work on the second floor of the castle. Work by authors from East Bohemia were to be seen in Zdeněk Sklenář Gallery under the title "Pearls of the Orient".
The second run in 2006 brought exhibitions "Centripetal Margins - visual art from the Pardubice Region" showing paintings by famous artists whose lives were connected with East Bohemia in some way, "Moods and Nocturns of Jakub Schikaneder", "The Hidden Face of the World" displaying previously unpublished portfolios of international photographers, Jiří David and Jan Merta exhibited in Josef Pleskot's rooms, Zdeněk Sklenář Gallery displayed the "Jewels of Czech Art" in its Litomyšl branch.
The principal exhibition of the 3rd year in 2007 was "František Kupka - Man and Earth". "The Curtain" by Václav Boštík was installed on the second floor of the castle, Kubík Gallery showed paintings by the landscapist Jan Honsa and photographs by two friends - photographers Jiří Toman and Josef Sudek. The Monastery Gardens displayed "Rank" by Jasan Zoubek. Zdeněk Sklenář Gallery brought together artefacts created with various techniques in various periods under the name "Fireworks of Beauty". The exhibition of pictures and poems by Honza Volf was very popular with the visitors.
The 2008 session was dominated by the largest ever exhibition of Josef Váchal named "Between God and Devil". It showed his drawings, prints and paintings, namely those from the Museum of National Literature collection but also from galleries and private collectors.
In Kubík Gallery there was an exhibition of originals by a famous French cartoonist Jean Effel, the Castle Brewery exhibited a collection of photographs from Smetana's Litomyšl backstage area "Daniel Šperl - FOTO VIVO". Zdeněk Sklenář Gallery displayed the less known work by Václav Boštík, City Gallery in Litomyšl prepared the exhibition "Adventure of a Collection", ex-libris of collector Svetozár Pantůček. Part of Smetana's Creative Litomyšl 2008 was an exhibition "New Discoveries of Photographs" by Daniel Reynek travelling to Czech inspiration towns.
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