The Horacka Gallery in Nove Mesto na Morave
The Horacko Gallery in Nove Mesto na Morave is one of the cultural centers of the Vysocina region. Since 1964, the gallery has been located in the former Renaissance chateau, whose history dates back to the 16th century. The gallery reflects the fine arts of the Vysocina region; it is a unique collection of sculptures, paintings focused especially on landscapes, and original factory glass, mostly made in the famous Skrdlovice glassworks. The artists represented here by samples of their work are Jaroslav Beranek, Jan Beránek, Jan Exnar, Jaroslav Svoboda, Frantisek Vizner, Jaroslav Wasserbauer, and others.
The gallery collections include pieces from important natives, especially the sculptor Jan Stursa (1880-1925), who is considered one of the founders of Czech modern sculpture. His works and creations by other artists can be found not only in the gallery but also in the exterior of the city center because Nove Mesto na Morave is an open-air sculpture gallery.
The Permanent Exhibition represents part of the rich collection fund of the Vysocina Gallery. The items in the exhibitions rooms introduce the leading representatives of the classicist period of Czech sculpture – Josef Maratka, Josef Vaclav Myslbek, Karel Pokorny, Jan Stursa, Vincenc Makovsky, and others. The whole exhibition is supplemented by paintings by Oldrich Blazicek, Josef Jambor, Bohdan Lacina, Karel Nemec, Alois Podloucky, and other artists who were born in the Vysocina or had a lifelong attachment to the region.
Alongside the permanent exhibition, the Horacka Gallery offers visitors two additional long-term exhibitions: Sculptor´s Dreams (Jiri Vasica) and Selected glassworks (Jaroslav Svoboda). The long-term exhibition Sculptors´ Dreams is located in the chateau’s cellar. The exhibition is composed of 5 pieces from the gallery’s collection, and an additional two lent by the artist. The delicately carved rotating stone objects create the illusion of levitating stones. The viewer is not only permitted to touch the display but actively encouraged to set it in motion.
Since 2014 the chateau attic has been home to the retrospective exhibition of glassmaker Jaroslav Svoboda. The exhibition is a loose continuation of the artist’s 2014 exhibition Skleneny svet (The Glass World) in Bratislava, in the formation of which the Horacko Gallery took part. The body of work is composed of pieces created for glassmaking symposiums and other pieces from the author’s collection, these being made by Jaroslav Svoboda before 1989 in the Skrdlovice glassworks, and later pieces from his private glassworks in Karlov.
For more information about the Vysocina Region, from which this gallery comes, click here and here.
