In his article, Jaroslav Anděl traces the changes that took place in both art and science in the Czech Lands in the course of the 19th century. In the works and commentaries of such painters as Karel Purkyně or Soběslav Pinkas, he finds early signals of the emergence of modern art. Even the scientific findings of Karel Purkyně’s father, J. E. Purkyně, a renowned natural scientist of his era, divulge links to modern art-forms, such as cinematography. The exchange between art and science is apparent, for example, in the geological inspiration for Adolf Kosárek’s paintings. What is particular about such works and scientific endeavors is their disruption of the static imagery and emphasis on the flow of time. The rise of urbanism and, consequently, of individualism, brought the passing and linear conception of time to the fore. Anděl claims that this “discovery of time” was a crucial element in constituting both the modern artist and critic., Jaroslav Anděl., and Obsahuje bibliografii
This study deals with the grey zone phenomenon in the context of literary life under late Communist rule during the 1970s and 1980s in Czechoslovakia. The aim of this text is to attempt to trace, using the method of historical reconstruction, how the concept of the grey zone was understood in Czech and Slovak society before 1989, especially in texts and discussions on dissent and exile that reflected the reality of normalization. These texts show that awarenesss of the grey zone played an essential role in the thinking of dissident and émigré authors, as it challenged bipolar schemes and blackand- white images of social reality in the Czechoslovakia of the time. However, this conception of the grey zone often contradicts today’s journalistic and specialist approaches, which tend to classify the grey zone as a silent or passive majority. This study shows that the definition of what we now call the grey zone was much broader.