Cubism, as it emerged from the experiments of the painters Pablo Picasso and George Braque, was for some a necessary but limited artistic investigation in the 20th century. For others, though, it offered a blueprint for a new language, as in that part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that became Czechoslovakia, where it influenced sculpture, painting and architecture.
This last field, supported by interior and furniture design, is the focus of "Czech Cubist Architecture and Design 1911-1925 — Chochol, Gocar, Janak," an exhibition at the INAX gallery in Kyobashi near Ginza. The show focuses mainly on works from Prague of those three Czech Cubist proponents — Pavel Janak, Josef Gocar and Josef Chochol — through original items, such as a wooden chair and a ceramic coffee set, and 70-odd photographs. All the images were taken by Yutaka Suzuki, who has documented Czech Cubism over the last 10 years.
The Cubist influence is expressed in everything from solid, boxlike forms of varying depths to experiments with angular designs and jagged lines. Chochol's exterior of the offices of the Kovarovic architectural firm is divided into squares, the walls of which recede into windows set back in the facade, forming a pattern of protruding and receding angles. A similar angular theme can be seen in many other designs, from diagonal window bars to the chiseled planes of columns and door frames.