Published September 5, 2024
Noah Breuer's "Návrat (Return)" Exhibition
Department of Art Faculty Noah Breuer, has his first European exhibition! The show is a survey featuring twenty-one artworks made over the past eight years, including three, newly-created, printed fabric compositions.
Návrat (Return)
at the Moravian Beauty Foundation, Breclav, Czech Republic
Havlíčkova villa třída 1. maje 418/37
691 41 Břeclav-Poštorná, Czech Republic
September 28, 2024 - March 16, 2025
Reception: October 4, 2024
Press Release
Distributed by: Moravian Beauty Foundation
American artist responds to the design legacy left by family textile mill in pre-war Czechoslovakia 4 September 2024
American artist Noah Breuer's ancestors owned a textile factory in Dvůr Králové. It was confiscated from them during World War II, and most members of his Jewish family perished in concentration camps. In 2016, Noah Breuer tracked down fabric swatches from the family textile factory in the Czech archives, and created a series of imaginative artworks in textiles, paper and glass, combining contemporary design and historical motifs. The non-profit organization Moravian Beauty presents the exhibition Návrat/Return from September 28, 2024 to March 16, 2025 at Havlíček's Villa in Breclav.
A family saga
The story of the Breuer family intertwines professional success and personal tragedy in a manner fit for a cinematic saga. The “Carl Breuer and Sons” company was founded in 1897 and operated a textile factory in Dvůr Králové from 1907. The factory printed decorative motifs on fabrics. Before World War II, the factory produced 660,000 metres of fabric per year. In 1939 the company was confiscated by the Nazi administrator. Soon after, Nazi materials were produced there, including the infamous yellow Stars of David which Jews were compelled to wear. Nearly all members of the Breuer family perished in the concentration camps, but five of Noah Breuer's ancestors managed to escape.
A Return to Europe
For Noah Breuer, who is a professor and the Head of Print Media at the University at Buffalo, this exhibition in Břeclav is particularly important because it is the first presentation of these artworks in Europe. Noah remarks, "I have visited the Czech Republic several times, since 1990, but it was not until 2016 when I first encountered the Breuer company archive in Česká Skalice. For me, the most interesting items were the printed sample swatches. I was particularly interested in the playful motifs applied to children's textiles, depicting circus acrobats, airplanes and motorcars. I didn't want to simply reprint or reproduce them as comercial, domestic textiles. Instead, I wanted to reimagine them as wholly new, original artworks. I see this entire project as an act of reclamation.”
Passing on tradition
The exhibition is presented in the Czech Republic by the non-profit organisation Moravian Beauty. "We have long been dedicated to promoting Moravian folk culture in the Czech Republic and abroad, but we are also interested in the transmitting of on craft and artistic skills within families. That is why I was very interested in Noah Breuer's project, which presents not only original works of art, but also a strong story from our Czechoslovak history," says Monika Vintrlíková, director of Moravian Beauty. The Return exhibition will start on 29 September at Havlíček's Villa in Breclav. The exhibition will open on 4 October at 3 pm in the presence of the author. The exhibition will remain on view until 16 March 2025.
Photographs of the exhibition: https://moravskakrasa.cz/cs/akce/vystava-navrat-return
Contact:
Judita Matyášová
PR Manager of the Moravian Beauty Foundation Tel.: +420 724 905 379
Email: judita@moravskakrasa.cz www.moravskakrasa.cz