The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (AAAD, , abbreviated VÃ Â UP, also known as UMPRUM) is a public university located in Prague, Czech Republic. The university offers the study disciplines of painting, illustration and graphics, fashion design, product design, graphic design, ceramics and porcelain, photography and architecture. Along with other buildings, the academy is part of the city's unique glass art cluster.
The Academy was founded in 1885 as the School of Applied Arts in Prague (UPà  ). At the time of its establishment it was the first and only state art school in Bohemia. Its mission, according to the founding charter, was âÂÂto nurture manpower skillful in the arts for the artistic industry and to train educational staff for applied arts teaching and for teaching drawing at secondary schools.â It was divided into a three-year general education school and follow-up three- to five-year vocational and special schools with the disciplines of architecture, sculpture, drawing, painting, film & TV graphics, metal working, wood carving, floral painting and textiles.
The faculty staff was chosen from among the leading personalities of Czech culture. The first director of the school was the architect Frantià ¡ek Schmoranz Jr. and the teaching staff included Frantià ¡ek à ½enÃÂà ¡ek (1885âÂÂ1896), Josef Václav Myslbek (1885âÂÂ1896), Jakub Schikaneder (1885âÂÂ1923), Celda KlouÃÂek (1887âÂÂ1917), Felix Jenewein (1890âÂÂ1902), Otakar Hostinsky (1847âÂÂ1910), and Friedrich Ohmann (1888âÂÂ1898).
Among the first graduates were Jan Preisler, Stanislav Sucharda, Josef Maà Âatka, VojtÃÂch Preissig, Frantià ¡ek Kobliha, Bohumil Kafka, Miloà ¡ Slovák and Julius Maà Âák.
In 1896, the position of the Academy of Fine Arts (AVU) was reinforced by its nationalization. Some of the teaching staff left UPà  and the school focused primarily on applied arts. The architect Jià ÂàStibral (1886âÂÂ1920) became the new director. The faculty staff comprised Stanislav Sucharda, Jan Preisler, Karel VÃÂtÃÂzslav Maà ¡ek, Alois Dryák, Ladislav à  aloun and Jan KotÃÂra. They were later joined by Karel Boromejský Mádl, who worked as art professor and library administrator. KotÃÂra advocated "unity of visual culture and the creation of a modern style."
At the turn of the century, UPà  became one of the centres of the Art Nouveau movement, inspired by its achievements in the late 19th century. And so the school represented Czech art at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, where it won the prestigious Grand Prix. The new generation of students in the early 20th century included future representatives of Czech Cubism and the interwar avant-garde - Josef ÃÂapek, Václav Beneà ¡, Josef GoÃÂár, Frantià ¡ek Kysela, Bohumil Kubià ¡ta, Otakar Novotný, Linka Procházková, Jan Zrzavý, Václav à  pála, Josef à  ÃÂma, Emilie PaliÃÂková, Jaroslav Rössler and Pravoslav KotÃÂk.
In 1918, after the creation of Czechoslovakia, UPà  failed to obtain the âÂÂHigh School of Decorative Artsâ status it was aiming for, but nevertheless it strengthened its autonomy. From 1920 it was led by an elected rector and new artistic personalities joined the faculty staff - Pavel Janák, Frantià ¡ek Kysela, Jaroslav Horejc, Vratislav Hugo Brunner and Helena Johnová and the art historians AntonÃÂn MatÃÂjÃÂek, Václav Vilém à  tech and JaromÃÂr PeÃÂÃÂrka. In its early years of independent status, the school sought to create a âÂÂnew national styleâÂÂ, though one still based on ornament in the tradition of Art Deco (the successor of Art Nouveau with theoretical manifestos from the beginning of the century). In 1925, the school represented Czechoslovakia at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris, where it received both official recognition and criticism from the perspective of the European avant-garde. Under the growing international influence in the late 1920s, the school began to focus on Constructivism and Functionalism. The architect Otakar Novotný was strongly influenced by the German Bauhaus. Among the graduates of the interwar period were Jan Bauch, Cyril Bouda, Karel ÃÂerný, Toyen, Frantià ¡ek Foltýn, ýudovÃÂt Fulla, MikulÃ¡à ¡ Galanda, Frantià ¡ek Gross, Frantià ¡ek HudeÃÂek, Josef Kaplický, AntonÃÂn Kybal, ZdenÃÂk Sklenáà Â, Karel SouÃÂek, Ladislav Sutnar, Karel Svolinský, Jià ÂàTrnka and Ladislav ZÃÂvr.
Following the closure of the universities in 1939, the school replaced AVU until the end of WWII. It thus strengthened its position and by a 1946 Act acquired a new status and the name Vysoká à ¡kola umÃÂleckoprà ¯myslová (The Academy of Applied Arts). A year later, in 1947, study was extended to five years, with studios across the departments of applied architecture, applied painting, applied graphic arts, textiles and clothing, applied sculpture, glassmaking, pottery and ceramics.
After the communist putsch in February 1948, the school was also subjected to the influence of ideological and political dogmatism. The new teachers were subordinated to socialist realism. Nevertheless, the handicraft disciplines â textiles, glass, metal and ceramics â maintained their quality, and in the fifties celebrated figures joined the faculty â such as Adolf Hoffmeister, Arsén Pohribný and Josef Wagner. The graduates of the period included VladimÃÂr Janouà ¡ek, VÃÂra Janouà ¡ková, HermÃÂna Melicharová, ÃÂestmÃÂr Kafka, Milan Grygar, Stanislav KolÃÂbal, Stanislav Libenský, ZdenÃÂk Palcr, Adriena à  imotová, Jià ÂàJohn, Eva Kmentová, KvÃÂta Pacovská, Olbram Zoubek, Jan HladÃÂk, Jenny HladÃÂková, VladimÃÂr Kopecký, Jià ÂàBalcar and René RoubÃÂÃÂek. One of the school's successes was the awarding of the Czech pavilion at Expo 58 in Brussels. In the 1860s, the study period was extended to six years and intensive development took place especially in the art and craft disciplines. The Department of Industrial Design was also established at the former ZlÃÂn School of Art, which was merged with the Academy in 1959.
The so-called âÂÂconsolidationâ influenced by the political âÂÂnormalizationâ in the early 1970s also affected the school. A number of the personalities who had maintained its quality were obliged to leave. They included Frantià ¡ek Muzika, Adolf Hoffmeister, AntonÃÂn Kybal, Karel Svolinský and Jià ÂàTrnka. The school was led by conformist Communist Party officials under the Rector Jan Simota (1973-1985) and his successor Jan Mikula.
The school was reorganized after the Velvet Revolution of November 1989. At present (2014) it comprises five practical departments: architecture, design, fine arts, applied arts and graphics and a sixth, theoretical department teaching art history and aesthetics. In total there are 23 studios at the academy.
Contemporary alumni and tutors include the architects Eva Jià ÂiÃÂná, Jan Kaplický and TomÃ¡à ¡ Pilaà Â, the designers Boà Âek à  ÃÂpek and Dominika Nell Applová, the fine artists Adriena à  imotová, Jan KubÃÂÃÂek, David ÃÂerný, Kurt Gebauer, Jià ÂàÃÂernický, Martin Mainer, Karel Gott, Václav Cigler and Jaroslav Róna, the graphic designers ZdenÃÂk Ziegler and Klára KvÃÂzová, the sculptors Karen LaMonte, Michal Trpák and Zuzana ÃÂÃÂà ¾ková, the typographer Frantià ¡ek à  torm, the film animators Jià ÂàBarta, Pavel Koutský and Michaela Pavlátová and the theorists Josef HlaváÃÂek and Jan Tomeà ¡.
The school building was erected in 1882-1885 according to plans by Frantià ¡ek Schmoranz Jr. and Jan Machytka inspired directly by the art academies in Paris and Vienna. Originally, the school occupied only the wing on the Alà ¡ovànábà Âeà ¾Ã embankment, while the wing facing Jan Palach Square (Czech: NámÃÂstàJana Palacha) housed the Academy of Painting.
The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design is called Vysoká à ¡kola umÃÂleckoprà ¯myslová (Và  UP) in Czech (literally the âÂÂCollege of Industrial ArtsâÂÂ), popularly abbreviated to âÂÂUMPRUMâÂÂ, though the same abbreviation is also commonly used for the Museum of Decorative Arts (UmÃÂleckoprà ¯myslové muzeum - UPM). In neither case, however, is the abbreviation official, nor has it ever been.