Abstract
The study manes the ciontradictory individual strategies adopted by selected important figures of the Czech visual art scene to reflect totality. The main focus is the two turning points in the post-war Czech history - the Stalinist era of 1948 - 1953 and the late 197's.
The study points out the complex relationship between aesthetic value and politics where any interference with the equilibrum may easily induce a sharp artistic fall; in contrast to that, the study presents works that succeeded in making a stance towards totality. The commentary of the era in the works of Jiří Kolář is confronted with other artists'methods.
It proves that a retrospective view does not have to be identical with the perception of the works at the time, and that, in this sense, stereootypoes survive only too easily. Works that are assessed as too verbal or works which according to the criteria of contemporary discourse, are formaly classified at the verge of (political) kitsch, might have initially played an important role.
However, over a longer time frame, the works of some artists carry a timeless impressiveness on top of the time-specific meaning.