Flowers of Other Worlds. Anna Zemánková, Cecilie Marková, Marie Kodovská, and Czech Spiritualists

The Non-Professional Art Department of the Silesian Museum in Katowice has for many years collaborated with numerous foreign institutions dealing with the phenomenon of art brut. These contacts allow for the presentation of our own collection, as well as showcasing the collections of partner institutions to the Polish public. In 2025, it was the exhibition "You Are Not Alone. Outsider Women in Art", and now we have the opportunity to introduce you to one of Europe's most interesting art brut collections, located at the Olomouc Museum of Art. The exhibition primarily sheds light on the phenomenon of spiritualist art, little known in Poland, whose manifestation is mediumistic drawings.

The exhibition "Flowers of Other Worlds. Anna Zemánková, Cecilie Marková, Marie Kodovská, and Czech Spiritualists" is a selection of works centered around the motif of the flower, which is extremely strongly present in the Olomouc art brut collection. Flowers – for centuries among the most powerful archetypes of art – are not here a reflection of real nature, but primarily a projection of inner nature, a peculiar "botany of the soul." They are deeply intimate; they become metaphors, signs, and symbols. They act as messengers of "other worlds" and images of different dimensions of cognition. The visual metamorphoses of these worlds take on non-obvious, often dreamlike and peculiar forms, characterized by exceptional expressive power.

This is particularly evident in the extraordinary phenomenon of so-called mediumistic drawing. The extensive drawing creativity of mediums developed within the rich activity of spiritualist associations in the Czech lands at the end of the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century. Its flourishing was made possible by the more liberal and tolerant social atmosphere of Bohemia and Moravia, as well as specific cultural conditions shaped by the region's history. The scale of this phenomenon and its mass character probably have no equivalent in the European context. Another phenomenon was the dozens of exhibitions of mediumistic drawings organized by spiritualist associations throughout the country until 1938. Their work aroused the interest and admiration of artists such as Josef Čapek and Jan Zrzavý. In the period of later totalitarian regimes – Nazi and communist – this tradition was, however, gradually annihilated.

The creators of mediumistic drawings, primarily from rural and small-town environments, did not perceive themselves as the actual authors of their works. They considered themselves intermediaries – mediums. Their works were created in a special state of inspiration, under the influence of a strong creative impulse, and with a sense of an extraordinary connection to invisible sources, often identified with the names of spirits, sometimes also with the names of known or unknown planets. Below the drawings, they usually noted the duration of this "connection" during which the work was created. They were not mentally ill or socially excluded individuals. Their work grew out of the ideals of spiritualism. It is worth noting that the principle of free automatism, present in these works, also constitutes one of the foundations of surrealist art.

The exhibition presents a selection of works created throughout the 20th century by over twenty artists, including anonymous authors, but also well-known ones such as Anna Zemánkova, Cecylia Marková, and Josef Kotzian.

One of the basic criteria for selecting works was their undeniable artistic value and convincing authenticity – qualities that constitute the unique strength and significance of this extraordinary creativity.