Preface.
Whoever has seen the collections of embroidery of the Čechoslovenic nation in Náprstek’s Bohemian Industrial Museum, must surely have felt interested, even if he were a foreigner, and although the subject might be said to lie outside the sphere of his interests in general.
There are thousands of articles here worked by the skilfal hands of simple conntrywomen from the lands of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovenia, who never had any teacher except nature, and the familiar surroundings, which supplied them with motives, and the inborn susceptibility and feeling, that guided their dexterous fingers in forming the whole.
The peculiar character and accuracy of the work are the consequence of long practice and examples, which have been transmitted from generation to generation throughout centuries; and indeed these popular designs may very well compete with the best specimens of similar work from any other European nation.
On looking over even the few plates of this smaller collection one cannot help being struck with the rare precision of the work of our people, and it seems almost incomprehensible, how these and similar specimens of popular needle-work could, even twenty years ago, have been c ompletel overlooked, and how it came to pass, that only lately attention has been directed to them, and collections begun to be made.
This is partly explained by the fact, that the public mind was far differently occupied at that time, so that even other specimens of our culture were neither appreciated nor preserved nor collected; partly also by the fact, that productions of country people are out of the way of the common stream of collectors, because they have little or no relation to the known style of other corresponding works of art and industry.
These popular manufactures, compared with the system of more widely spread styles which have, so to speak, grown out of one another, and have been developed by mutual progress, are like independent islands, formed upon the so called natural style.
The country population has, not only with us, but in every other land, developed such forms as correspond with its feelings, its necessities, and technical skill, and founded them only upon tradition and nature, very seldom adopting any of the external forms of similar styles.
This has been the case not only in embroidery, but also in the plastic art as seen in all sorts of works in wood, clay or metal, and in textile fabrics.
This is particularly apparent even now amongst nations and tribes, who have come less under the influence of culture and commerce (for instance the Huculs & cet.).
These manufactures may be called the core of national art, having arisen from the widest base of the nation, from the country people, by whom they were produced.
