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'LAZY SUSAN': THE AVANT-GARDE, WOMEN AND TAYLORISM IN THE CZECHOSLOVAK HOUSEHOLD

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Guzik H.

Umění (Art)

2004

vol. 52

issue 3

247-260

In Czechoslovakia in the early 1920s, Taylorism was first and foremost an intellectual fashion in the circles of engineers gathered around Masaryk's Academy of Labour. After 1925, the Czech avant-garde drew on this source, among others, when it focused on questions of the rational organisation of apartment ground plans and the principles of functionalist architecture in general: typification, normalisation and standardisation. At the beginning of the 1920s, housewives also became interested in Taylorism. On the one hand, Taylorism found support in the tradition of patriotic women's movements that reached back to the 19th century. On the other hand, it was associated with the wave of interest in the American lifestyle and mass culture emerging at the end of the decade. In both cases, loyalty to the traditional division of roles for men and women was compensated for by the illusion that the housewife, in her rationalised kitchen, was actively developing the potential of the national economy. The cultivation of the ethos of the housewife helped to fuel this illusion, as did the suitable layout of the apartment and the outfitting of the 'domestic laboratory' with the latest inventions that would facilitate its communication with the surrounding world. Some of the propagators of modernity in the household also promoted the centralisation of domestic activities. Although they did not share the leftist views of the avant-garde gathered around Karel Teige, the housewives came up with original designs for the collectivisation of meals and washing. This widely accepted 'Taylorisation' of lifestyle in Czechoslovakia in the early 1930s became an instrument in the hands of the functionalists. The avant-garde, inspired by the German architect Bruno Taut, did not so much consciously direct the movement for rationalisation as use its successes in its strategy for seeking customers of modern architecture. At this time, however, the change in the existing social roles of men and women was no longer at the forefront of the interests of the avant-garde.

THE DIOGENES FAMILY. THE COLLECTIVISATION OF ACCOMMODATION IN BOHEMIA 1905-1948

100%

Guzik H.

Umění (Art)

2006

vol. 54

issue 2

162-176

At the very beginning of the 20th century the collectivisation of domestic work was a focus of interest for activists in the Czech liberal women's organisations. In the 1920s and 30s, interest in the subject gave rise to several architectural designs and buildings. When the Czech avant-garde formulated its programme of collective accommodation around 1930, its attitude towards this tradition was a distinctive mixture of paternalism and ignorance. Nonetheless, the open approach of liberal feminism to collectivisation explains why the views of the Czech architectural left were so radical, as far as concerned the organisation of accommodation and the definition of the role of the family in modern society. Both camps were reconciled to some extent in 1945-1948. At that time, it was the feminist tradition, in addition to the experience of functionalist architects, which had a direct influence on the implementation of the Czech collective dream: the Prague Solidarity housing estate and the koldums in Litvinov and Zlin.

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2 Umění (Art)

2 Guzik H.

1 2006

1 2004

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'LAZY SUSAN': THE AVANT-GARDE, WOMEN AND TAYLORISM IN THE CZECHOSLOVAK HOUSEHOLD

THE DIOGENES FAMILY. THE COLLECTIVISATION OF ACCOMMODATION IN BOHEMIA 1905-1948