Mládková found a way to pass on her legacy: Works for Profit won Prague
Patron and art collector Meda Mládková died on Tuesday. For the Czechs, it helped rediscover Kupka, reconstructed Werich’s villa and is also behind the opening of the Kampa Museum in the former Owl Mills. What was her life like?
Hostem I’m asking was the chairman of the board of the Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation and MEP Jiří Pospíšil (TOP 09).
Probably the most famous post-revolutionary art patron and discoverer of the painter František Kupka, Meda Mládková, died this morning in Prague this morning. Huge collections of modern Czech art remain after her. The collection of works by painter František Kupka was donated together with many other works to Prague years ago, the rest of the collections are owned by the Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation – Kampa Museum.
“Neither Poles nor Austrians have such a personality as Meda Mládková. She is Czech Peggy Guggenheim, “says Jiří Pospíšil, MEP for TOP 09, who has been the head of the Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation – Kampa Museum for many years. He was the guest of the I’m Asking Podcast today.
Meda Mládková and her husband Jan supported Czech and other Central European painters and sculptors from the communist regimes and gradually collected their works. As emigrants, they tried to help prevent Czech culture from dying out in the dark, which is why Jan Mládek’s motto, which hangs on the museum building today, reads: “If culture lasts, the nation will survive.”
Mládková lived for many years in France and then in the United States. Her husband died in 1989 before the revolution.
What was her life like and what collections remained after her? Who now owns art and what will happen to the collections?
You can play the whole conversation in the audio player, in your favorite podcast application or in the video.
What was said in the interview?
1:00 – We have known Honey Mládková for more than twenty years. During that time, a friendly relationship was established between us based on respect and esteem, and I consider it an honor to be able to participate in the care of her work. She was someone of my family, she influenced me more than by handing me over the administration of the Kampa Museum. Thanks to her, I became a vegetarian, she was a great fighter for animal rights. She supported a number of projects that she thought made sense. She supported the Czechoslovak artist because, from her point of view, it made sense.
2:00 – He is certainly one of the greatest figures in modern history. If you look at our modern history, including the peoples of Central Europe, Poles, Hungarians, Austrians do not have a personality like her. It is comparable to Peggy Guggenheim, who pursued her goal and supported artists who were not so well known. Meda Mládková is completely unique in that she supported artists who could not exhibit and fought against the communist regime. There’s no story like hers.
4:00 – There was not a day when Meda Mládková did not remember her husband. It was an admirable relationship and extraordinary love. Although he was over two decades dead, she kept thinking of him.
5:00 – As a wise man, he wondered what people thought of her. In the sense that she doubted herself as a wise man, and she cared if she understood what she was trying to do for Czech culture. That is, if they accept her message and I understand that it was not a tinsel for collecting images of a lady from Washington, but an effort to help the Czechoslovak nation, whose non-communist culture was oppressed. When someone approached and said it was an inspiration to him, it was the driving force for him. And there were a huge number of people who respected Meda Mládková and greeted her in the park and in Kampa. I think a lot of people knew what she had done for the nation. The support from the people was very important to her.
8:00 – Where the Czechia has been closely watched. Meda Mládková was of the Masaryk type, she really cared that there was democracy and her cultural activity was a public activity. There was such a cultural policy. She was doing something that made sense to the nation.
9:00 – Meda Mládková did not bear well that we have President Zeman here, she even said with exaggeration that if she was younger, she would run against him. Opponents of Meda Mládková would say that she was a classic supporter of the so-called Prague Café. But she respected pro-Europeanity and it was clear from her that you could be a great patriot and a great supporter of the EU.
10:30 – The museum will operate as before. It will be no secret that Mrs. Meda is moving away from his leadership, which is why she was already running without her clear decisions today, even though she commented on him. She set it up so she could function after her death. She was aware that we were all mortal. With notaries years ago, she devised a way it can work. The foundation is Meda Mládková’s only heir – it has reassured some if it is me or someone else. Thus, there is no danger of inheritance disputes or destabilization of institutions. Already during her life, she transferred most of her property either to the city of Prague – ie the collection of František Kupka, or to the Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation.
12:00 – The most valuable – that is, the collection of František Kupka or Jiří Kolář, belongs to Prague. For a collection of billions of crowns, the Foundation received the use of Sova’s mills for a hundred years from Prague. The rest of the works of art will therefore belong to the Foundation. But the rest is in the thousands and the collection is still expanding. One of Meda’s wishes was that the collection would not end with what it gained during communism. It is estimated that they are hundreds of millions of crowns. These are huge values.
15:00 – It is better if I am not an employee of the Kampa Museum, but the chairman of the board. So if I left politics, I would do another activity. In my opinion, it is good that the Kampa Museum does not feed me and it is an honorary function for me.
I’m asking
Archive of all parts can be found here. Write us your observations, comments or tips via social networks under the hashtag #ptamseja or by e-mail: [email protected].