Renáta Tyršová

“ Some forty years ago articles of dress, furniture, pottery and such like were collected in Museums, and a great number of exhibitions brought to light quantities of interesting objects of textile and ceramic industry, along with various small household utensils from all parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia. All these proofs of genuine inventive spirit of the people and their peculiar aesthetic taste had so much artistic value that there was a general desire to save this art from utter extinction. ”

“ In the south of Moravia everything is decorated with work of floral designs, not only the dresses, but the walls of the dwellings, the furniture, mugs, dishes and plates, and of course the Easter eggs!
The people's art has developed now into an important home-industry. ”

“ The Bohemian peasantry whose chief occupation until the middle of the nineteenth century, was agriculture, created for themselves on the basis of old traditions, an original style of arranging their homes, and their costumes, having their own poetry, music and dances, customs and ceremonies, all of which may be considered as the artistic side of Bohemian peasant culture and exhibiting in a striking manner the national characteristics in art and manufactures. ”

“ Outside of the museums there is only one district in western Bohemia where it is possible by personal experience to learn how a special mode of life and the nature of the soil have together evolved the fashion of dress peculiar to this part of the country. During a holiday one can meet near Domažlice, in a mountainous and not very fertile country, lean old men wearing broad-brimmed black hats and longtailed white coats of homemade cloth. ”

“ Most intelligent visitors to exhibitions, as a rule take a special interest in those things differing from the ordinary cosmopolitan stamps, and which preserve the marks of national peculiarities. Therefore it has been necessary to accentuate in this first Bohemian exhibition in London these signs of our old national art and its reflex in our modern efforts. ”

“ These home industries soon got beyond the peddlar stage of its existence; in some districts they are now organized by diverse societies who bringing their trained experience and capital into the business have succeeded in largely increasing the trade. The art of lace making is the special object of certain industrial schools and the efforts of the teachers have been rewarded by a large measure of success.
In Bohemia and Moravia, earlier perhaps than in any other part of Central Europe, much attention has been bestowed on the apparently vanishing innate inventive powers of the country people. ”

“ But the peasants in Bohemia were even during those times of serfdom, the owners of the soil they tilled, and they possessed so much innate energy and creative power as to make for themselves sufficiently cultured and artistic surroundings, that they raised themselves above the dreary monotony of daily drudgery and preserved their national character. ”

“ The Ethnographic and Historic Museums in Prague and in almost all the larger towns in Bohemia possess great collections of embroideries, suits of national dresses from various parts of Bohemia and Moravia, home pottery, furniture and other implements, painted Easter eggs, toys, manuscript prayer books adorned with miniatures and drawings, etc. Folklore, national art and culture are the objects of intense study of a considerable number of literary men who publish special journals and beautifully illustrated books. ”

“ The loss of Bohemia’s independance and the determination of the government to germanize her people, were the causes that alienated the great mass of the population from the cultured class which was educated in the higher german schools so as to forget their nationality and sink their individuality, while the country people on the other hand, lived their own old national style of life. ”

“ Even the men,—especially the youthful swains, indulge in many bright ornaments on their dress, the breast of the shirt, waist-coat and breeches, and even sometimes the mantle thrown in graceful folds round the shoulder are ornamented with a fine display of lacing and embroidery. ”

“ More than fifty years ago the peasants of Bohemia began to discard their pretty showy costumes, and only in the southern parts, far from the industrial centres and the high roads of commerce, have the forms of the ancient life been preserved. ”

“ The nearer we approach to Prague and to the north and northwest frontier, the signs of the present day increase, busy factories meet the eye, and just as the evidence of modern commercial life grows stronger, so traces of old customs and fashions become few, until in the busy towns it is to the museum we must go to learn the lessons of the past. ”

“ It is not even possible to show kinds of costume,—different in each district as worn by the country people. The limited space does not permit of more than the display of a selection of interesting garments—sartorial pages of history linking the past with the present, bringing to our minds the time when a persons apparel was also the outward sign of his national character and evidence of his social position and surroundings. ”

“ We are convinced of their worth, and all who are interested ought to study technical peculiarities, the designs and style of ornamentation, and endeavor to extract from the consideration of ancient art an inspiration for new artistic creations. ”

“ Here, only a few traces of the original dress of the country survive, but in former times the rich garments of the portly women from the extensive farms, harmonised well with the signs of the land’s fertility and the prosperity of the country generally which made life easy. They are not so tall as their neighbours from Domažlice, but rather stout and not so sunburnt.The peasant women near Plzeň used to wear a dress made under the influence of the town’s fashion of the eighteenth century. ”

“ The innate liking for decorative display concentrates its aims principally on the head-gear; hence the endless variety of caps and coifs, as well as of scarves and kerchiefs. The chemises of the women have either broad collars with rich embroidery, or a broad ornament in the middle of the sleeves. ”

“ The society does a great amount of good work in giving the people the necessary instruction how to make the articles suitable for the requirements of the inhabitants of the towns. [5] The society’s efforts have resulted in the largely increased patronage of the village workers. The thoughtful visitor will not fail to compare in the exhibition the new products with the old ones shown in the room of the city of Prague and he will readily recognise the points of resemblance between productions of the past and the present day. ”

“ The white caps of the peasants women excel in fine open work and in ornaments of knots very elaborately arranged into nice patterns, and the bordering of fine lace is also the work of Bohemian peasant women.
The head kerchiefs differ in the style of ornamentation and colour in each district, some showing embroidered corners of many coloured silks, others snow-white with open-work embroidery contrasting with those worked with tinsel and glass beads, other specimens are almost covered with close embroidery in black, exhibiting an endless va-riety of patterns ”

“ In some industrial schools, great pains are taken to revive the old characteristic needle-work and to profit from the study of national originals and to show good effects in the modern work due to conscientious study of the national designs. ”