ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that modernity was experienced and expressed in a way that differed from many other geopolitical locations. Modernity is understood as a historical period marked by industrialisation; the rise of capitalism and nation-states, and an increasing diversification in societies. The Czech lands and Prague became an example of the particular responses to modernity, understood as an international, global phenomenon, in a nationally, historically, and politically specific locale. The transformation of Czech society from the end of the 19th century onwards is closely associated with the increasingly strong position of the Czech national movement in Austria-Hungary, and their political-cultural competition with local Germans. The Czech lands have often been portrayed as a location which quickly adopted the internationalism and universal ideas of modernism in the visual arts and turned away from the emphasis on the existence of national cultures and art. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
