MOTYL I LEOPARD
Butterfly and leopard

Motifs of animalistic transgressions in Toyen’s work (Marie Čermínová)

Summary/Abstract: The work of Toyen, a Czech-French surrealist painter, was a bridge between different cultures and worlds – dreamed up (unreal) and social, as well as natural – animal. The article will primarily concern the latter world, in which the enigmatic, no less metaphysical than religious revelations, nature accompanies man, penetrating his existence, blending into his body and psyche, and forcing homo sapiens to abandon logic, beliefs, and conventions in favour of internal transgressions. The article will also signal a broader culture-forming context and the social melting pot in which the artist moves in. It is mainly about three of Toyen’s friends – Jindřich Štyrský, Karel Teige and Jindřich Heisler. Together with them, she created an unusual poetically visual world with fluid boundaries in which we can (un)safely immerse ourselves.

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