**Artist's donation to the National Gallery in Prague**
In 1946, two exhibitions of František Kupka (1871–1957) took place in Prague – a major retrospective exhibition in the building of the Mánes Association of Fine Artists, and an exhibition of prints and drawing organized by the National Gallery. On this occasion, the Czechoslovak state purchased approximately forty artworks, including the renown *Amorpha, Two-colored Fugue* of 1912. Kupka also decided to donate four oil paintings and twenty-three drawings to the gallery.
The donated drawings were illustrations for André Ferdinand Hérold’s book *La Guirlande d’Aphrodite* (The Garland of Aphrodite), commissioned by Parisian publisher Henri Piazza in 1917. After some hesitation, Kupka accepted the job, under the condition that he will be allowed to use a pseudonym of Paul Regnard. By this time he focused mostly on abstract painting, i.e. *“without using the forms of nature”*, and he no longer wished to be known as an illustrator. His involvement in this endeavor was only revealed in 1928 in the monograph by Emanuel Siblík.
The exhibition in the Cabinet of Graphic Art in the Veletrzni Palace has been created as part of the jubilee exhibition Generosity: The Art of Giving.
**Curator**: Kristýna Brožová
