Meda Mládek: Czechoslovakia, USA, the Cold War and Art

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61989592%3A15210%2F25%3A73633494" target="_blank" >RIV/61989592:15210/25:73633494 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://womenshistorynetwork.org/womens-history-today/" target="_blank" >https://womenshistorynetwork.org/womens-history-today/</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

—

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Meda Mládek: Czechoslovakia, USA, the Cold War and Art

Original language description

This article reconstructs the life and work of Meda Mládek within the framework of Cold War cultural diplomacy, showing how this Czech American collector navigated and connected two politically divided worlds through art. Drawing on extensive archival sources, it traces how Mládek—moving between Paris, Washington, DC, and communist Czechoslovakia—actively supported Czech artists, especially those associated with the neo-avant-garde, and used exhibitions as a form of “soft power” fundamentally different from the strategies employed by the Soviet bloc. Particular attention is paid to her decisive role in promoting artists such as František Kupka, Jiří Kolář, and Stanislav Kolíbal on the American art scene, as well as to her efforts to secure international mobility and fellowships for Czechoslovak intellectuals through institutions like the Ford Foundation. The second part of the study focuses on the post-1968 period, when political conditions in Czechoslovakia sharply deteriorated but Mládek continued her activities despite increasing surveillance and restrictions. The article shows how her Georgetown home became an unofficial platform for the presentation of Czech modern art, and how her persistent transatlantic networks helped sustain and amplify the international resonance of Czech neo-avant-garde artists at a time when they were marginalized at home. Ultimately, the study situates Mládek’s work within a broader history of transnational artistic relations, arguing that her efforts were driven not only by personal conviction and collector’s passion but also by a deeply held belief in culture as a vehicle of national survival—captured in the motto she lived by: “If culture survives, the nation survives.”

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_ost - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

60401 - Arts, Art history

Project

—

Continuities

N - Vyzkumna aktivita podporovana z neverejnych zdroju

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

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

Name of the periodical

Women’s History Today

ISSN

2752-6704

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

Volume 3

Issue of the periodical within the volume

Issue 14

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

12

Pages from-to

13-24

UT code for WoS article

—

EID of the result in the Scopus database

—