This digital resource offers access to a previously unpublished document written by the Czech art historian Vincenc Kramář (1877‒1960), an early collector of Cubist art, who played a central role in promoting Cubism in Prague and shaping its reception among Czech artists and audiences. In February 1913, Kramář visited Pablo Picasso’s exhibition at Heinrich Thannhauser’s Moderne Galerie in Munich; the document presented here contains his detailed notes about the artworks on view. A facsimile of the handwritten document, transcription, and English translation, along with Kramář’s annotated copy of the exhibition catalogue, are made available here for the first time through a collaboration between the Ústav dějin umění Akademie věd České republiky (Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences) in Prague and the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Kramář wrote his notes in pencil on loose sheets of paper folded in half, a format resembling that of a book. He began his notes on the right-hand (recto) pages and frequently continued on to the overleaf (verso). Sometime after the 1913 exhibition, Kramář (or someone else) likely rearranged the pages of his notes, resulting in jumps or breaks in the order of the text. This organization is preserved here, as it is in the Ústav dějin umění Akademie věd České republiky’s holdings, and follows the document’s folio numbers, which are marked in pencil on the lower right of each recto page. The numbers postdate the notes and are not in Kramář’s hand; they were likely added upon their acquisition after Kramář’s death. It is also not clear whether the cover page is in Kramář's hand. The notation “1913 spring” mistakenly identifies the date of the Picasso exhibition, which took place in February 1913. This cataloguing information may have been inscribed later, when the document was processed at the Ústav dějin umění Akademie věd České republiky, Prague. Folios 12 recto/verso and 22 verso are no longer extant; in the digital presentation, the lost pages are represented as blank, darkened sheets.

In addition to the original document, this digital resource also offers a Czech transcription and an English translation of Kramář’s notes. Both preserve the capitalization, punctuation, indentation, and line breaks of his text, and reflect his habit of frequently omitting verbs, pronouns, and word endings as he wrote. Curly brackets { } indicate a textual insertion made by Kramář himself, either by writing directly above or below a line of text, or by adding a phrase in the margins. Words indiscernible in the original text are indicated in square brackets as [nečitelný] in the transcription and as [illegible] in the translation. Editorial additions and alterations have been kept to a minimum; where they appear, they are denoted by square brackets [ ]. For the purpose of clarity, minor changes have been made to the order of words in the translation.

Though Kramář wrote in Czech, he sometimes used German, French, and Spanish terms. These are retained in their original language, with possible translations suggested in footnotes, and with the exception of a few German words for paint colors for which there is a direct and clear English translation.

Two pages in the document contain Kramář’s sketches with color notes; diagrams of these annotated sketches appear in the transcription and translation, and can be viewed in the footnotes. A number of the works discussed in the notes—to which Kramář typically referred by the numbers ascribed to them in the exhibition catalogue—have been identified through a variety of means; this information is also provided in the footnotes. Where previously published, the earliest source for the identification is included with the object information; otherwise, identifications were made by project team members, Lauren Rosati and Nicholas Sawicki.

This digital resource incorporates several enhanced features to assist scholars in their research. If desired, the user can move between different viewing modes, identified by the three icons at the top left of the screen. Moving from left to right, the options offer the ability to read the document on its own; review the document alongside either the Czech transcription or English translation; or to see all three together. While viewing the document within the three-panel mode, users can also change the order of the transcription and translation panes by clicking the arrows at the upper right corner of the transcription pane. Kramář's annotated copy of the Picasso exhibition catalogue can be accessed via the main navigation bar; it can be opened in a new tab to allow for side-by-side viewing of the documents. Other user features include a highlighting tool, which identifies a passage of text in the document alongside the transcription and translation. To use this feature, simply click on a block of text in the facsimile. Users will also find a copy and paste function, which automatically adds a citation when text from the transcription or translation is copied into a Word document.

For Kramář’s notes:

Ústav dějin umění Akademie věd České republiky, oddělení dokumentace, fond Vincenc Kramář, poznámky k Piccassově výstavě v galerii Thannhauser, 1913, karton XVII, sv. 4. fol. 2-33. Copyright © Estate of Vincenc Kramár. Accessed via “Vincenc Kramář, Notes on Picasso’s exhibition at the Thannhauser Gallery, 1913,” Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2019. Copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/libraries-and-research-centers/leonard-lauder-research-center/research/digital-archives/kramar-project

For quotes from the transcription:

“Vincenc Kramář, Notes on Picasso’s exhibition at the Thannhauser Gallery, 1913.” Transcription. Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2019. Copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/libraries-and-research-centers/leonard-lauder-research-center/research/digital-archives/kramar-project. A collaboration of the Ústav dějin umění Akademie věd České republiky, Prague, and The Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

For quotes from the translation:

“Vincenc Kramář, Notes on Picasso’s exhibition at the Thannhauser Gallery, 1913.” Translated by Alex Zucker. Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2019. Copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/libraries-and-research-centers/leonard-lauder-research-center/research/digital-archives/kramar-project. Translated by Alex Zucker. A collaboration of the Ústav dějin umění Akademie věd České republiky, Prague, and The Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

For the exhibition catalogue:

Ausstellung Pablo Picasso. Exh. cat. Munich, Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser, February 1913. Private estate. 

Copyright Information:

The Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art’s Digital Archives Initiative is a collaborative project to partner with institutions to make archival holdings available to a wider public. Materials are accessible for research purposes in the following situations: they are in the public domain; the rights are owned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art; we have permission to make them accessible; we make them accessible as a fair use; or there are no known restrictions on use. To learn what your responsibilities are if you would like to use the materials, please go to https://www.metmuseum.org/information/terms-and-conditions.