Publication details
Modernistický sen Dušana Binka
| Title in English | The modernist dream of Dusan Binko |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2011 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Work in Progress |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Art, architecture, cultural heritage |
| Keywords | pictorial photography; Art Nouveau; Modern Style; tannery; Krucemburk; White Villa; Red Villa; Bohemian-Moravian Uplands; Binko; Seykora; Skrivan; Gocar; Stursa; Rostlapil; Roycroft; Arts & Crafts |
| Description | The main purpose of this article is to provide information about the life, creative predilections, and artistic activity of Dušan Binko (1884–1954). In art history literature the interesting figure of this young factory-owner from Krucemburk in eastern Bohemia has so far been lost in the shadow of his older brother Josef Binko, a leading representative of Czech Art Nouveau pictorial photography and a patron of the arts. The text reveals various details about the little-known Cubist design by the architect Josef Gočár for the reconstruction of the house Dušan was born in. Over the years, Gočár became not only a close friend of the art-loving family of tanners, but also the brother-in-law of Dušan and Josef. The author of the article also examines Dušan’s own work 111 as an amateur photographer, compares it with the pictorial photographs of his brother, and attempts to find similarities and differences between the two. Something that had been completely unknown until now was Dušan’s handicraft products and furnishings for the house he was born in, which he fashioned in his domestic workshop in the spirit of the revivalist movement Arts & Crafts from wrought metal or wood. His work is characterised by a sensitive approach to the use of simple stylised ornaments, arising out of the general aesthetic principles of late geometric Art Nouveau and early Modern Style. Particularly worthy of note are his painstakingly wrought copper and brass bowls, vases, dishes, ashtrays, bookends, candelabras and light fittings, using patina, varnish, or acid etching finishing processes. Dušan Binko’s work on these artefacts is strikingly reminiscent of the well-known products of the American handicraft Roycroft fraternity. |
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