GUTFREUND, OTTO (Czech, 1889-1927)

Gutfreund is a major Cubist sculptor and a leading representative of Czech Cubism, during 1912-1916 the gate to the poetics of avant-garde art in Central Europe.
After studying at the School of Arts and Crafts in Prague under Josef Drahonovský, 1906-1909, Gutfreund moved to Paris to study under Emile-Antoine Bourdelle. Here he was first confronted with the early Cubist paintings of Braque and Picasso and was one of the first sculptors to apply Cubism to sculpture.
In the summer of 1910, he returned to Prague via London, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Back in Prague in 1911, he was a co-founder of the ‘Skupina’, where he exhibited works until its dissolution in 1913 and wrote articles for the’ Umelecký mesíčník’ (Monthly Arts Bulletin).
Gutfreund proceeded to travel around Europe, exhibiting at the Galerie der Sturm in Berlin in 1913, together with Picasso, Gris and Apollinaire. In 1914 he found himself in Paris again with fellow Czech cubist Emil Filla and remained there until 1919.
On his return to Prague in 1920 he became a member of the ‘S.V.U. Mánes’ and in 1926 was appointed professor of sculpture at the School of Arts and Crafts, Prague.
After his Cubist period (1911-1919) his ‘Civilism’ projects, many of them state commissioned, celebrated the citizen of newly founded Czechoslovakia.
In 1927, the year of his death, Gutfreund returned to modern forms and reached the border to abstract sculpture.

Public collections include:                Gallery of Fine Arts, Ostrava
National Gallery, Prague