Forty-five years ago an exhibition of the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was held in the Brno House of Arts. That singular cultural event was associated above all with two people: Grete Tugendhat and František Kalivoda. In 2013 we were commemorating the birthdays of both of them: Grete Tugendhat was born 110 years ago (1903), and František Kalivoda 100 years ago (1913), both in Brno. The anniversaries mentioned above have provided an opportunity of making good the omission in the Tugendhat House’s bibliography.
In November 1967 Grete Tugendhat visited Brno and her house for the first time since 1938, at the invitation of the architect František Kalivoda. Written, personal and working contacts between František Kalivoda and Grete Tugendhat culminated on 17 January 1969 when, as part of the exhibition of the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the Brno House of Arts, an evening of presentations was organised entitled ‘Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, creator of the Tugendhat House’. As the main guest Grete Tugendhat gave a talk devoted to the house’s circumstances and course of construction. She first of all wrote the text of the talk in German, then she herself translated it into Czech and then gave the talk in Czech. Kalivoda wanted to publish the talk in both language versions in a separate booklet with his own foreword, but it never happened. The anniversaries mentioned above have provided an opportunity of making good the omission in the Tugendhat House’s bibliography.
The book was published by the Villa Tugendhat Endowment Fund in cooperation with the Brno City Museum in three languages (Czech, German, English).
Černoušková, Dagmar; Chatrný, Jindřich; Pernesová Jitka (eds.). Grete Tugendhat. František Kalivoda. Brno 1968–1969, Brno 2013
The book is available for purchase at Villa Tugendhat and at Brno City Museum inside Špilberk Castle. It may also be ordered online at smerdova@spilberk.cz.
Price: 215 CZK + packing and shipping costs