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Cubism was
a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music and literature. The first branch of cubism, known as Analytic Cubism, was both radical and influential as a short but highly significant art movement between 1908 and 1911 in France. In its second phase, Synthetic Cubism, the movement spread and remained vital until around 1919, when the Surrealist movement gained popularity. English art historian Douglas Cooper describes three phases of Cubism in his seminal book The Cubist Epoch. According to Cooper there was Early Cubism, (from 1906-1908) during which time the movement was initially developed in the studios of Picasso and Braque; the second phase being called
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High Cubism, (from 1909 to 1914) during which time Juan Gris emerged as an important exponent; and finally Cooper referred to Late Cubism (from 1914 to 1921) as the last phase of Cubism as a radical avant-garde movement.[1]

Josef Chochol (December 13, 1880, Psek - July 6,

1956, Prague) was a Czech architect. Chocol studied architecture at the polytechnic in Prague (190824), then at the academy in Vienna, under guidance of Otto Wagner (1907-09). He was one of three significant Cubist architects, together with Pavel Jank and Josef Go r; all three were members of the Mnes Union of Fine Arts. Three buildings he designed (1913) in Vy ehrad (part of Prague) are considered masterworks of cubist architecture. In 1914 he abandoned the Cubist style and began working in the internationally oriented constructivist style. Most of his other designs (cubist factory, theater) were admired but never realized. Chochol was also active in politics: he was a founding member of the Left Front organisation and the Association of Socialist Architects, and was the only one of the Czech Cubists with strong political views.

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undecorated style with elementary forms, simple windows, and traces of classicism. Czech "Cubism", a name adopted by a group of young Czech painters acquainted with the cubism of Picasso and Braque, experimented with their own designs (that had little to do with the analytical cubism of Picasso and Braque) of rhythmical grids, points on a fractured surface and jagged forms. Pavel Jank, a Prague architect who had contact with these ideas, started applying "Pyramidal cubism", decorative applications of slanted facets, folds and fractures to his building facades. The best example of Czech Cubism is this little apartment building by Josef Chocol, built just before WWI. Hodek was built at the edge of an older quarter of Prague and 20th century districts to the south. Located at an acute corner on a sloping site, this modest block of small flats exhibits some of the detail qualities of the late "Cubist" style. The geometric faceted spandrels and cornice, some of the angular details at the door and ground floor windows, and the otherwise plain undecorated character of the exterior walls are all typical cubist details. The overall classical disposition of the facades on both streets is overlaid with a clear structural grid. The recessed porches at the corner suggest a spatial dimension to the cubist palette. A small shop occupies the corner at the ground floor. There are four tiny one and two room flats at each floor grouped around a rear stair and service zone along the entrance hall.

Hodek Apartments Cubist house in Vy ehrad, Prague, Czech Republic

The change from the academic national style that prevailed in Prague at the turn of the century to the modern style of the 1930's happen in several stages and passed through several uniquely Czech periods of architectural development. The "Purists" of the early 1920's experimented with a plain,
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Czech Cubism was a curiosity more that it was a full-blown architectural style. It was very short-lived, lasting only about 5 years, but occupied an important position between Secessionist and Functionalist values and occurs at the same time as other similar European groups such as Wendingen, Futurism and German Expressionism. While there was some expectation that Cubism would lead to a new style, Karel Teige referred to it as "nothing but a romantic architectural utopia" As an example of housing, it remains a curious introduction to, and perhaps a necessary transitional movement, to the Functionalist era that followed after WWI.

Hodek Apartments

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House of the Black Madonna

designed and built between 1911 and 1912 on the corner of Celetna Street and Ovocny trh. Josef Gocar built this house as the first example of cubist architecture in Prague and it remains probably the most celebrated. Even without historical details of the Baroque building surrounding it, the House at the Black Madonna maintains the atmosphere of the neighborhood. The house was given its name by the stone sculpture that originally adorned one of the two Baroque buildings on the same lot. After many years altered use in the interwar period and under communist rule, the house was closed in January 2002 and reopened after extensive restoration in November 2003. Gocar designed this house in mid-1911 at the age of 31 for the wholesale merchant Frantisek Josef Herbst. Mr. Herbst chose Gocar to build his department store in Old Town along the old coronation route because of the architects earlier success with a similar shop in Jaromer (sp) build in 1909-1911. Because of this prominent position within the heart of the city, Gocars building was subject to strict harmonization rules that demanded the department store not conflict with its historical setting. It uses the language of baroque architecture in the cubist forms which exemplifies the contextualization of cubist architecture. Gocars first plans were not well received by Lubos Jeabek who oversaw the historical-buildings authority in Bohemia. Subsequent designs incorporated more cubist features into the building; the Prague City Council eventually approved the plans on August 4th, 1911. In fact, his early modernist
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House of the Black Madonna The House of the Black Madonna is a cubist building in the "Old Town" area of Prague, Czech republic. It was designed by Josef Go r. It is currently in use as a small museum of Cubism and is open to the public. The House of the Black Madonna (U Cerne Matky Bozi), sometimes referred to as Black Mother of the Lord, was

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orientation, seen in original plans for the House at the Black Madonna, give way to the new cubist designs in the finished building. The angulated bay windows, iconic capitals between windows, and cubist railing of the balcony took their place in deigns. The House at the Black Madonna like many of Gocars houses was build with a reinforced-concrete skeleton from the Chicago School. Cubist interiors had proven a challenge to architects. This very modern building style of reinforced-concrete skeletons allowed for large interior spaces without ceiling support that more complimented cubist aesthetics. Grand Caf Orient, which encompassed the entire fist floor without supporting pillars, was a revolutionary feat of engineering. In some literature, Gocar is described as a decorative because he was primarily concerned with creating this cubist faade instead of a cubist building. It is ironic then that his design for the Grand Caf Orient is the only surviving cubist interior in the world. In reference to the faade, multiple revision in design and the harmonization rules forced some compromise on the cubist elements. The faade breaks with the cubist and modern traditions at the third level and incorporated elements to reconcile the cubist building with its surrounds. For example the roof is a kin to Baroque double roofs. The third story also features flat windows and pilasters with Classical fluting between them.

As previously noted, the House at the Black Madonna was originally designed to house a department store. Herbsts store occupied the ground and second floor of the building. Grand Caf Orient was established was established on the first floor. Above that were apartments. The house was used this way until minor changes in 1914. In the mid 20s the caf and store on the second floor were converted into bank offices. Further damage to the architectural integrity was done in 1941; functionalist architect V. Kubik refashioned the wooden fames on the ground floor windows with steel. During the communist period the building was subdivided internally into more office spaces and then designated as the state exhibition agency. In 1994, the space was created again as a center for Czech art and culture. Heavy reconstruction between 2002 and 2003 returned established the Museum of Czech Cubism. The fourth and fifth floors of the house are dedicated to a permanent exhibition of cubist art museum crated by the Czech Museum of Fine Arts. The art concentrates on Czech artists in the period from 1911 to 1919 when cubism was in its heyday as both a visual art and architecture. March 2005, the Grand Caf Orient was reopened after extensive restoration. Few original plans survived but black and white still photographs had documented dcor and atmosphere of the caf in 1912. Replicas of caf furniture and brass chandeliers were constructed to revive the caf and showcase the many forms of cubism present in the Czech republic.

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