Foreign Ministry receives Jan Masaryk’s private art collection from London flat
Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský symbolically received a collection of art pieces from Jan Masaryk’s former London residence, on Thursday afternoon. The roughly 30 works of art were bought out at auction by one of Masaryk’s former secretaries, after his tragic death in 1948. Radio Prague International spoke to Ivan Dubovický, host of the ceremony and cultural anthropologist at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After more than 75 years in private possession, Jan Masaryk’s London apartment art collection has now been donated to the Czech state. Ivan Dubovický describes the collection’s journey, which led from Jan Masaryk himself, all the way into the hands of the Czech Foreign Ministry:
“Lumír Soukup, one of his three secretaries, was kind enough and spent basically all the rest of his own money to save this collection. He was basically saving that for all those four decades, even after he and his family moved from Scotland, from Edinburgh, to France. And then last year, his daughter, Mrs. Alenka Soukup, decided to offer the collection to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
With help of the French Embassy in Prague, the Ministry has since been able to receive the rare collection from Mrs. Soukup. Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský shared a message he received from the artworks’ previous owner, regarding the ceremonious hand-over:
“Your Excellency, I'm writing to express my thanks to you for taking the time to publicly inform that the artwork of my father, bought from Jan Masaryk's flat in London, is now back in Prague. All I would like to add is that I am glad that they have now come home where they belong,” he read.
The collection contains pieces from several historical periods. Besides its symbolism, having been the ownership of one of Czechoslovakia’s topmost diplomats, the collection also carries great historical and cultural value, according to Dubovický:
“It contains roughly 30 artistic pieces of very different kinds. It goes back to Václav Hollar, a 17th century engraver, famous in London, all the way to Oskar Kokoschka. There are, of course, a lot of Pragensia, graphics and paintings, and there is also one statue of relatively high value from famous Czech sculptor Štursa.”
Other notable authors in the collection include Mikoláš Aleš, or Jan Masaryk’s older brother Herbert, who was also a painter before he succumbed to typhus at the young age of 34. The brothers’ father was first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Dubovický explains that this also likely played a role in the size of the art collection:
“Some of these painters, for example, Pavla Fořtová-Šámalová, was the second wife of the chancellor of President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. They belonged to the closest circle of friends, and she was a painter, so we can guess that some of these works were given either directly to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk or to his son Jan.”
Before becoming accessible to public, the collection will undergo minor reconditioning. A process, which could take roughly two months:
“It surely will be exhibited, but first it will go through some form of restoration, because some of the pieces need some restoration. Then, we are planning in September, to prepare a small exhibition here on the premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Tuscany Palace,” says Dubovický.
The Foreign Ministry has set its sights on September 14th – an important date in the Masaryk family history. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk died on the day in 1937, while Jan Masaryk was born on that same date, 51 years earlier in 1886. The building of the Foreign Ministry itself, however, also holds a poignant history for the former ambassador:
“Here in this apartment, where we today present this collection, he spent his last years of his life and he found his death on March 9, 1948,” Dubovický explains.
Masaryk was found dead at the foot of the Czernin Palace, under suspicious circumstances, only two weeks after the communist coup in Czechoslovakia. A symbolic tragedy, which according to Dubovický underscores the statesman’s enduring legacy:
“For many people, especially generation of my parents and grandparents, Jan Masaryk has always been the last symbol of democracy in Czechoslovakia.”
