Abstract
The thesis, THE THEOLOGICAL LEGACY OF CZECH MODERNISM IN THE LIFE AND WORK OF FRANTISEK BILEK, looks at the life and work of the artist Frantisek Bilek in relation to the theological legacy of Czech Catholic modernism at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century over three chapters. Its objective is to answer three questions: whether the artist was the mystic he was perceived to be at the time, whether he can be termed a modernist, and what his reasons were for joining the Czechoslovak Church when it was founded in 1920.
The study uses the method of hypotheses which are stated in advance in the questions posed, and then subsequently tested, along with an analysis and comparison of the approach and attitudes of Czech society including figures within it to the artist during his life. The outcome of the thesis is a filling in of gaps in our knowledge and documents on the artist from audiovisual and digitised archival sources when he actively worked for the church in the period after joining the Czechoslovak Church.
The artist's membership and active work for the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts following his joining the Church is a part of the study undertaken.