Original Art Carpets Artifacts created from the early 1990s after the prototypes of contemporary artists in the traditional Moravian Tapestry Manufacture in the city of Valašské Meziříčí were loaned from private collections for the present tapestry exhibition, held in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. The manufacture was established in the late 19th century by artist Rudolf Schlattauer who at the same time designed tapestries and screens as well as furniture upholstering with Art-Deco motifs that were subsequently produced in the facility. The manufacture moreover realized hand-woven carpets after designs of Hanuš Schwaiger, Dušan Jurkovič and Jan Kotěra. In 1946, when the management of the manufacture changed, its production focused on restoring historical tapestries. In the 1950s, the facility wove a tapestry after the design of Pravoslav Kotík for the Triennial in Milan or a tapestry designed by Ludmila Kybalová for Expo ’58 in Brussels. Later, the tapestry factory collaborated with Antonín Kybal’s studio associated with the Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design from where its today’s director, Jan T. Strýček, graduated. Strýček initiated the project entitled “Actual Textile Art“, aimed at reviving the tradition of the workshop’s collaboration with contemporary artists. Among those whose designs were transposed into carpets are, for example, Jiří Sopko, Tomáš Císařovský, Petr Nikl, Ivan Ouhel, Petr Kvíčala and many others. Moravian Tapestry Manufacture / 110 Years of Tapestry Art Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague 26 June – 21 September 2008
