Josef Gočár – a big name in the world of modernist architecture
The birth of an artist
During his early creative period, Gočar’s artistic direction crystallised, his ideas were refined and his fantasy developed. This phase culminated in his first large independent project – the complex of the Winternitz automatic mills in Pardubice. A building boasting associations with the Ishtar Gate, a building of ancient Assyrian art, rises up in picturesque surroundings by the River Chrudimka. It amazes people with its monstrosity, and rock-solid quality as operation of the mills did not end until 2003.
Charmed by cubism
At the start of the last century, Gočar allowed himself to be charmed by cubism, its unusual approach to shape and substance. The architect designed the still famous, admired and luxury “House of the Black Madonna” on Celetná at the age of only 31 and this was the first cubist building in Bohemia. The building is nowadays home among other things to the Museum of Czech Cubism of the National Gallery in Prague. Your attention is bound to be captured on the façade of the building by the statue of the Black Madonna which the building is named after. Apart from luxury art, you can stop for a rest over a nice cup of coffee in Grand Café Orient.
Legiobanka on Na Poříčí is built in the spirit of rondocubism, where rounded shapes are predominant. During the cubist epoch, Gočar then also created the spa building in Lázně Bohdaneč. The uniform style was however disturbed in 1926 by addition of a mansard floor.
Luxury fascination with functionalism
During the twenties, he worked on several projects at the same time. He on the one hand dealt with the urban reconstruction of the city in Hradec Králové, creating a new city plan and regulation plan for the embankments, as well as a system for a ring road with radial roads leading to the city centre, between which there are alternating residential areas and areas of greenery.
At the same time, he got in tune with the ideas of functionalism, where beauty is subject to utility, everything is subordinate to the purpose and function of the building. These efforts culminated in Gočar’s designs for the luxury Grandhotel and Okresní dům buildings in Pardubice.
You could say that Josef Gočár had the gift of being born at the right time, when the artistic world was opening up to the future. The time was propitious for his work, but only due to his talent and refined inner artistic voice, was he able to create works of such lasting validity, leaving a permanent legacy for future generations.
