Štyrský - Pocket Paintings

The book from the Pocket Paintings edition series, devoted to one of the most prominent Czech artists f the interwar period, Jindřich Štyrský (1899-1942), explores the artist’s paintings, as well as his poetry and dreams. Dreams in particular were Štyrský’s source of inspiration during the period when he engaged in Surrealism and co-founded the Group of Surrealists in Czechoslovakia. He had already established himself on the art scene with his pictorial poems – photocollages and photomontages, and with his paintings inspired by the Purism and Poetism aesthetics. Of fundamental importance for him was his friendship and artistic collaboration with the paintress Toyen, with whom he created the art movement called Artificialism. Apart from poetry, Štyrský also wrote essay and critiques on visual arts, and authored a biography of the Marquis de Sade, whose work inspired him to create a series of atmospheric photographs capturing the decay of his residence in Lacoste. The book is published to commemorate the 125Th anniversary of the artist’s birth, the 100th anniversary of the founding if the Group of Surrealists in Czechoslovakia. Štyrský’s paintings are chiefly represented in the permanent exhibition 1918-1938: The First republic.