Bedřich Feuerstein, architect. Prague - Paris - Tokyo

National technical museum Prague 2021, 212x260 mm, 287 pages., ISBN 978-80-7037-363-7 The Architecture and Civil Engineering Archive of the National Technical Museum manages the most extensive personal resource of the distinguished architect and stage designer Bedřich Feuerstein (1892–1936). This unique collection was presented to the public in its full diversity in the narrative monographic exhibition Bedřich Feuerstein, architect : Prague–Paris–Tokyo. The painter, architect and designer Bedřich Feuerstein made a significant mark on the international history of art also as a pioneer of scenography, for example as the author of the first artistic conception of Karel Čapek’s theatre play R. U. R. (1921). Other significant enterprises that had an international impact came from his internship and co-operation with the architect Auguste Perret (1874–1954) in Paris (1924–1925), or from his co-operation with the architect Antonín Raymond (1888–1976) in Japan at the end of the 1920s. The multimedia installation of this exhibition highlighted all Feuerstein’s artistic aspects: in this integrated form it presented for the first time his work in architecture, scenography, theatre costume and in graphic, utility and furniture design. His free artistic work also was not overlooked. The exhibition included a series of images from private collections which are not usually exhibited. Audio and video recordings recalled his work for film, Feuerstein’s essayist and lecturing activity, and his collaboration with poets and musicians, e.g. Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959). Feuerstein’s work was supplemented also by artworks of his contemporaries: busts by the sculptors Marta Jirásková, Helena Johnová and Otakar Švec; paintings by Josef Šíma and Jan Zrzavý. The extensive collection of the NTM is thus added to with exhibits from other public and private collections, e.g. the National Gallery Prague, the National Museum, the Military History Institute, the Museum of Decorative Arts and the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation. The film footage was provided by the Czech Film Archive. Helena Čapková (born 1981), after completing her Master’s degree in History of Art and Japanese Studies at Charles University in Prague and SOAS in London, obtained her doctorate in Transnational Visual Studies at the Chelsea College of Art and Design TrAIN Research Centre in London. Her key publications include the monographic study Bedřich Feuerstein : Cesta do nejvýtvarnější země světa [Bedřich Feuerstein: A Journey to the Most Creative Country in the World] (Aula a KANT, 2014; in Japanese translation Seibunsha, 2021). Other significant publications include: “Transnational networkers – Iwao and Michiko Yamawaki and the formation of Japanese Modernist Design” (Oxford Journal of Design History, 2014), “‘Believe in socialism...’ : Architect Bedřich Feuerstein and His Perspective on Modern Japan and Architecture” (Design and Society in Modern Japan, Vol. 28, 2016), “Framing Renshichiro Kawakita’s Transcultural Legacy and His Pedagogy” (bauhaus imaginista : A School in the World, 2019) or Antonín Raymond v Japonsku (1948–1976) : Vzpomínky Přátel [Antonín Raymond in Japan (1948–1976): Recollections of Friends] (together with K. Kitazawa, Aula, 2019).