Cabarets, masked balls, dancing halls and high society events - life was fun for the young social elite in the roaring 1920s - a time of abandonment and elegance in the years before the Great Depression. Between 1900 and 1930 Prague was gradually transformed from a local provincial town in the Austro-Hungarian Empire into a self-confident modern metropolis. An exhibition of picture posters which has just opened at the Municipal House in Prague offers unique evidence of this change.
"Never before seen in Prague" is the name given to a collection of entertainment posters dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. The posters, loaned by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, advertise popular haunts of the day among them the Alhambra Club, the Sanssouci Cabaret, the American Dancing Hall or the Chapeau Rouge. Each picture poster is a work of art -transporting visitors to a time of high glamour when the entertainment industry was booming and the young social elite embraced the carpe diem philosophy. Can-can, boas, powder and patches, silk dresses and coming-out balls - the posters reflect a time of decadence and joie de vivre which many people today would love to get a taste of. The poster exhibition at the Municipal House gives you a glimpse of that life. The curator of the exhibition Petr Stembera picked the cream of the crop from the Museum of Decorative Arts- which boasts the largest collection of period posters in the Czech Republic. They date from the very first picture poster made in 1900 to 1930.
"My own favourites are posters from the 20s. They portray what I call the elegance of the pre-war republic. We had a 1920s dress exhibition here recently which also reflected that quality strongly - it is an elegance that we cannot hope to match in the present day. The 20s posters have a magic quality that's hard to put your finger on but it's there. They are really fantastic."
The exhibition also features film posters and small mementos of the time - a young lady's dance-card, period evening wear and black and white photographs. It is open at the Municipal House until the end of the year. So if you'd like to get a feel of the good old days before the Great Depression pop in to see it - you'll find you can buy an English-Czech catalogue containing many of the posters on show.
