Anti-Communism, Authenticity, Individualization, the West: Czech Art History of Modern Art in the Post-Socialist Era

The article explores the construction of the canon of Czech postwar visual art during the 1990s. The concept of post-socialism serves as the framework of the analysis, illuminating the unspoken yet significant oppositional attitude toward the then-recent socialist past. On the scale of individual styles of modern art, the text traces their gradual historicization during the 1990s. Starting with informel, through constructivist tendencies, new figuration to performance art, and new media, the text also situates the canonization processes within the contemporary context of Czech post-revolutionary society and the then-current state and practices of the discipline of art history.