Zbyněk Kolář

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00023205%3A_____%2F17%3AN0000017" target="_blank" >RIV/00023205:_____/17:N0000017 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

—

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

—

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Zbyněk Kolář

Original language description

The monograph on the artistic legacy left by the Czechoslovak scenographer Zbyněk Kolář tracks his lifetime work, during which he prepared designs for almost 400 productions, primarily for theatre, but also some for television. He started his theatre career in the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, where he met the director Jozef Budský and the scenographer Ladislav Vychodil, both of whom greatly inspired him when he was just starting out. During the first years, his set designs were dominated by poetic expression, one could even say an impressive way of perceiving space, most likely influenced by his training as a painter under Alois Fišárek at the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague. He thoughtfully used lights, coloured reflectors, projections, and transparent materials on stage. The most effective productions from this first phase of his career included Faust (1956), A Bloody Judgment (1957), Romeo and Juliet (1957), and Pelléas and Mélisande (1958). After seven years in Bratislava, he was invited to collaborate at the Theatre of the Czechoslovak Army (later renamed the Vinohrady Theatre) by its new director, Luboš Pistorius. Here, he and stage director Jaroslav Dudek staged primarily the works of contemporary authors, and together they prepared more than sixty productions. The most impressive of these include War With the Newts (1963), Julius Caesar (1963), The Castle (1964), The Visit (1964), and August, August (1967). All of these became nothing less than legendary – not only from the perspective of the entirely new dramaturgy, made possible by the more relaxes political atmosphere in Czechoslovakia, but also with respect to the new role played by scenography. Particularly unforgettable are Kolář’s stage designs for contemporary operas, such as Ján Cikker’s Resurrection (1962) and Mister Scrooge (1963), Václav Kašlík’s Krakatit (1966), and Bohuslav Martinů’s The Greek Passion (1967). In the case of all four of these operas, Zbyněk Kolář’s scenography was so distinctive and original that not only did it garner praise in theatres at home and abroad, but, thanks to its thoughtful symbolist aspects, has been ranked amongst the most important European opera stage designs of the second half of the 1960s. Over the course of the 1960s, Zbyněk Kolář became a sought-after scenographer abroad, for both theatre as well as opera productions. He worked chiefly for theatres in German-speaking counties, collaborating with directors such as Václav Kašlík, František Miška, Jaroslav Dudek, Václav Hudeček, Karel Jernek, and the famous Leopold Lindtberg. For the last of the mentioned, Kolář designed the sets for productions of The Sorrows of Frederick (1969), Ashmedai (1971), A Faithful Servant of His Master (1972), The Tales of Hoffmann (1972), The Living Corpse (1973), and The Pied Piper (1975). The staging of The Sorrows of Frederick was so impressive and original that it led to Kolář being the very first stage designer in history to be awarded the Kainz Medal by the city of Vienna. At several theatres abroad, Kolář experimented with using an enlarged image of spots of colour. The way the blurred colours intermingled introduced an air of mystery and uncertainty to the stage space. The fascinating randomness of how the colours blended stood out the most particularly in the stage productions of Faust (1968), The Insect Play (1969), and Everything in the Garden (1971) as well as for the opera The Magic Flute (1973). The great opera successes Kolář achieved abroad were mainly associated with the director Václav Kašlík. Together, the duo also prepared the productions of Orff’s historical opera The Ballad of Agnes Bernauer (1965) and Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (1967) in Munich, Mozart’s The Magic Flute (1973) in Krefeld, Dvořák’s The Jacobin (1978) in Zurich, and Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann in St. Gallen (1980). In all of these cases, the stage design resonated with the magical atmosphere created through the use of scrim curtains, projections, and unusual lighting methods. Kolář loved music, and, in fact, in his youth he wanted to devote himself to a musical career, as a result of which he had an extraordinary feeling for music and a deep understanding of it. With respect to the moral values that were so much lacking in 1980s Czechoslovak society, several productions from that time period addressed specifically this aspect, particularly the stage designs for The Cabal of Hypocrites (1980), Shine, Shine, My Star (1981), the “dance meditation” Labyrinth (1985), Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus the King (1988), and The Master and Margarita (1988). The main objective behind Kolář’s stage designs was to serve the scenographic whole. He always strived to respect the author of the text or music, and to support the interpretative purpose of the entire dramatic work to the maximum level possible. Although he did use technological concepts that originated earlier – primarily projections and the use of different lighting methods for various types of materials and objects, revolving stages, battens, and the principles of black light theatre – he applied then in a way that created a new vivid atmosphere on the stage. His works were built on the very powerful symbolic and expressive tradition and clear symbolism found in interwar scenography; he significantly lyricised the stage atmosphere and emphasised its magical nature. Characteristics such as the replication of motifs, a kaleidoscope of alternating visual stimuli, chiaroscuro, working with different print fonts, and the inclusion of quotes from famous works were typical of his stage design for large theatres. The main building blocks Kolář used for his musical theatricality consisted of light, colour, and visual collage. Zbyněk Kolář often worked with creatively theatrical scripts, which, although typical for him, set him apart from the work of his contemporaries. From this it is clear how he viewed the scenic space with all of its inconsistencies. He always tried to find the critical key to the stage space – a sign, a symbol, a typical element – and then formulated its transformability. He actually worked following a significantly musical method, choosing a main theme and strictly adhering to it, working with it so that he could use all of the possible variations down to the last meaning or emotion. Kolář believed that stage scenery is, first and foremost, a dramatic shape, like a work of art in movement, but not in the sense of kinetic art, but rather as a determining means of expressing the internal and external dynamics of a drama. The purity of the scenic element and the significant way in which its aesthetic value increased were always very important to Kolář. Some sort of internal architectural code, organisation, and discipline radiates from all of his stage designs. Kolář was able to reveal generally higher level, unchanging values in a dramatic text; he drew attention to the predetermined course of the universe independent of human existence. Quite possibly this is one of the reasons why he was so concerned with the ‘invisible’ role of stage equipment – everything had to function in the same way as the world itself functions. In 1971, Kolář was awarded the Herman Teirlinck Theatre Medal in Belgium, and for his work in 1967, the Czechoslovak State Award for Outstanding Work was conferred on him. The last major prize he received was the Silver Medal at the 1983 Prague Quadrennial, which he received for his conceptual set designs for Ján Cikker’s Resurrection and Václav Kašlík’s Krakatit in the international competition’s thematic section for Czech and Slovak opera productions.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

B - Specialist book

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

60403 - Performing arts studies (Musicology, Theater science, Dramaturgy)

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2017

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

ISBN

978-80-7008-390-1

Number of pages

267

Publisher name

Institut umění - Divadelní ústav

Place of publication

Praha

UT code for WoS book

—