Catalogue Bohemia CZ – Příběh fenoménu

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From its origins in mid-nineteenth-century Paris, the idea of bohemia has been a powerful and persistent component of artistic identity. While artists have always in part had a reputation for living outside societal norms, it was here that such a way of life was first codified and romanticized. The concept of bohemia quickly achieved international currency, and after the Second World War it emerged in many different places around the world.

Bohemia: History of an Idea, 1950–2000 looks at the differences and continuities across various bohemian scenes. It concludes at the end of the twentieth century, when commodity culture began to erode a lifestyle founded on its refusal. Yet the bohemian ideal still offers an alternative to conformity and continues to fascinate, beckoning from the past with ways of living that galvanize and inspire.

Published to accompany a major exhibition at Kunsthalle Praha, this book discusses key works by artists such as Stan Douglas, Ed van der Elsken, Nan Goldin, Tomislav Gotovac, Peter Hujar, Libuše Jarcovjáková, Alice Neel, Wolfgang Tillmans, Zhang Huan, and many others.

The author, Russell Ferguson, a research professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, has written extensively on postwar and contemporary art. His publications include In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O’Hara and American Art (1999) and, with Kerry Brougher, Damage Control: Art and Destruction since 1950 (2013).