The Aleš South Bohemian Gallery (AJG) today received an exemption from the Chief Hygienist of the Czech Republic. It opened an exhibition of the Russian avant-garde in the castle riding school in Hluboká nad Vltavou. Visitors are interested in the works of Vasily Kandinsky or Kazimir Malevich. A maximum of 25 people may enter the room per hour due to restrictions against the spread of coronavirus. Hospital staff has free admission. Other galleries in the region are still closed due to the epidemic situation.
Avant-garde masterpieces
The gallery borrowed 36 paintings from the Museum of Art in Ekaterinburg, dating back to the 1910 – the 1920s. The collection includes Malevich, Kandinsky, Alexander Rodchenko, Natalia Goncharova, or Mikhail Larionov. The exhibition will run until the first of August.
In 2016, the collection from Ekaterinburg from the early 1920s appeared once in Europe as a whole in Budapest. Insurance contracts are in billions of CZK. As an exhibition, he often travels; from southern Bohemia, he will head to Moscow, then Seoul, South Korea. In 2015, AJG presented Russian artists with the Ilya Repin collection and Russian art, which attracted 13,000 people.
Quick overview on AJG
Aleš’s South Bohemian Gallery was found in 1953. The decoration of its collections, which include over 28,200 objects, are works from Gothic and the 1960s. It is being established by the South Bohemian Region, which has put CZK 45.1 million into operation this year. According to the annual report, 61,793 people visited the gallery in 2019. Last year, it was closed for a long time due to the coronavirus pandemic, with 29,429 visitors.
AJG opened the exhibition this afternoon. “The interest is surprising. Reservations for the late afternoon are already being filled, which pleased me and demonstrated my interest in the exhibition. I think there will be a very decent interest tomorrow (Friday) and at the weekend,” said the director. He hopes that hundreds of people come to the hall every day.
Due to coronavirus, the gallery had to postpone the exhibition for a year. The Ministry of Culture has previously given the gallery a subsidy of CZK 1.8 million to cover cost losses. This spring, AJG asked the Ministry of Health to include it in a pilot dismantling project.
Tickets & admission
The primary entrance fee is 225 CZK; the entry is free for hospital staff who present an ID card. Tickets must be booked in advance in the online system, and the price includes a respirator! Even though the gallery does not require a negative covid test, people in the hall must have a respirator or a nano mask. Gallery staff will measure visitors’ temperature upon entry. The tour lasts a maximum of 50 minutes, said AJG production manager Paulina Skavova.
The gallery management intends to attract visitors from Germany and Austria to the Russian avant-garde. This is not yet possible due to the covid and border restrictions. “We don’t even advertise abroad yet, but rather leave it at the beginning of June to have some certainty that the borders will open at all. We firmly hope, and I believe that the end of June and July could be months when foreign tourists could fill Hluboka, Krumlov, and southern Bohemia, “said the director.