The politics of artistic identity: The Czech art world in the 1950s and 1960s

Abstract

The article analyses changes in the organisational life of Czech artists and the discourses surrounding art and artists in the years between the Communist putsch of 1948 and the Prague Spring. The main focus is on the 1950s. The author invokes James Scott's methodology in seeking hidden expressions of resistance, arguing that private acts of resistance among artists emerged as public protest and an impetus for change when circumstance permitted. © 1997 Cambridge University Press.