At the 1937 World Exposition in Paris the General Commissioner for the Czechoslovakian presentation was Prof. Jan Krčmář.
Our pavilion was well situated on the bank of the Seine and, what was more, it was nicely wedged between
the attractive American and Swedish pavilions. At the UMPRUM (School of Applied Arts) session on 2.9.1936,
the panel selected the pavilion design proposed by Jaromír Krejcar and his team (Zdeněk Kejř, Ladislav Sutnar
and Bohuslav Soumar). This pavilion was one of the peaks of our interwar architecture, with Le Corbusier being
one of many to complement the structure. The steel construction was produced at the Vítkovice steelworks and clothed
in special "Thermolux" glass. The lack of a concept for the exhibition area, however, was a counter to the elegant
appearance of the pavilion. After the exhibits were installed, visitor movement through the pavilion was also severel
impaired. Visitors first walked through a hall of honour with a lion by Bohumil Kafka, with busts of Komenský, Palacký,
Purkyně and Masaryk on the right hand side.
The School of Applied Arts began the actual exhibition, supported by vocational education, with arrangement by L. Sutnar.
The glass section was arranged by A. Heythum. Apart from some original ideas (the glazed balustrade and spot lighting)
and excellent exhibits (the work of Prof. Drahoňovský) the area was full of run-of-the-mill production. In the porcelain
and ceramics section only Haas & Czjzek of Horní Slavkov and Pfeiffer & Löwenstein of Ostrova broke the hegemony
of the Carlsbad factories of Bohemia, Epiag and R. Kämpf.
The textile exhibition by A. Wachsmann reminded one of the packed display in a department store window.
In the musical instruments section, Petrof won the Grand Prix for piano construction.
After leaving the ground floor of the pavilion the visitor also said farewell to agriculture, as the whole first floor
(75% of the exhibition space) was taken up by industry. Here there was a veritable exhibition cocktail - the confused
visitor was presented with vast array of products supplied by mainly export-oriented companies.
Over everything a Praga-Air-Baby aeroplane spread its wings, accompanied by the frozen smile of Miss Koh-i-noor,
a small bust made of hairclips, pins, zips, buttons and thimbles (by the company Waldes).
The terrace provided a display of folk art, the Exportní ústav (Export Department) and the Tabáková režie (Tobacco Board).
12 spa towns by Zdeňek Rykr were inserted into the colonnade. A Radium exhibition was added to this balneology,
popularising the medicinal use of radioactivity. This area was enlivened by Zdeněk Pešánek's light fountain.
The visitor's walk around the terrace came to an end with Slavíček's panorama of Prague.
Right next to the state pavilion the Měšťanský brewery from Pilsen (construction project by J. Krejcar and Eva Štrimplová,
carried out by the company B. Sirotek) offered refreshment for men, while the first floor saw to the needs of women
with the Orion chocolate company's exhibition.
Apart from the state pavilion we also exhibited at the International Pavilion, where Jaroslav Benda presented
a summary of literary creation and applied art in the 1930s. The Post and Telegraph Ministry displayed enlarged stamps,
while the Finance Ministry filled a display case with designs for money. In the Advertising Pavilion we designed
several posters.
Our designers obtained space in the Visual Arts Palace, but the statue installation was rather sloppily carried
out (unattractive pedestals made from wooden boards).
In the Health Service Pavilion Sutnar designed a series of panels for the Living in the Country section.
In the Press Paviliion Sutnar participated in our department's installation. The active Sutnar obtained a Grand Prix
and 14 gold medals in Paris.
In the Costume and Decoration section Jiří Frejka and Vlastislav Hofman prepared an exhibition of designs for sets
and costumes.
Our ambassador Štefan Osuský had patronage over the supporting events. The catalogue of our participation was
graphically designed by Sutnar and featured an introduction by Karel Čapek.
The Cabinet Council's report by Emanuel Purghardt about our participation was critical. This failure was all
the more painful considering that before 1937 an international exhibition in Prague in 1942 was being seriously considered.
EXPO and the CR
