THE CZECH AVANT-GARDE OF THE 1920s AND 30s
František Smejkal [Introduction]
František Smejkal [Introduction]: THE CZECH AVANT-GARDE OF THE 1920S AND 30S. Oxford and London: The Museum of Modern Art and The Design Museum, 1990. First edition [alternate title: Devětsil: Czech Avant-Garde Art, Architecture and Design of the 1920s and 30s]. A4. Thick printed wrappers. Black endpapers. 115 pp. Essays fully illustrated in black and white. Elaborate and cloying design by Pentagram. White wrappers mildly shelfworn and page edges mildly sunned, but a very good or better copy.
8.25 x 11.75 softcover book with 115 pages of illustrated essays produced to accompany the exhibit “Devětsil: Czech Avant-Garde Art, Architecture and Design of the 1920s and 30s” at the Design Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.
- Foreword David Elliott And Helen Rees
- Devětsil: An Introduction František Smejkal
- The Architects Of Devětsil Rostislav Śvanchá
- Devětsil Design: From Visions To Programmes Milena Lamarová
- Devětsil Design: Five Interiors Rostislav Śvanchá
- Devětsil Design: A Sixth Interior Milena Lamarová
- Devětsil And Literature Zdeněk Pěsat
- The New Typography Jan Rous
- Devětsil And Photography Michal Bregant
- A Forgotten Composer: Homage To Miroslav Ponc Jaromír Paclt
- Devětsil: An Epilogue Karel Srp
- After Devětsil: Surrealism In Czechoslavakia František Smejkal
- Biographies
- Chronology By František Smejkal
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgements
- Contributors
Devětsil was founded by Karel Teige, Jaroslav Seifert, Vladislav Vančura, Adolf Hoffmeister and included a wide array of Avant-Garde Poets, Architects, Actors, Musicians, Directors, Writers, Painters, Photographers and Theoreticians including Vítězslav Nezval, Jaroslav Seifert, Konstantin Biebl, František Halas, Jindřich Hořejší, Jiří Wolker, Jaroslav Fragner, Jan Gillar, Josef Havlíček, Karel Honzík, Josef Chochol, Jaromír Krejcar, Evžen Linhart, Pavel Smetana, Jiří Voskovec, Jan Werich, Jaroslav Ježek, Jiří Frejka, Emil František Burian, Jindřich Honzl, Karel Konrád, Vladislav Vančura, Julius Fučík, Adolf Hoffmeister, Otakar Mrkvička, František Muzika, Jindřich Štyrský, Toyen, Jaroslav Rössler, Jiří Frejka and Bedřich Václavek and many others.
The Devětsil was an association of Czech avant-garde artists, founded in December 1920 in Prague. From 1923 on there was also an active group in Brno. Founded as U. S. Devětsil (Umělecký Svaz Devětsil) [Devětsil Artistic Federation], its name was changed several times. From 1925, it was called the Svaz moderní kultury Devětsil [the Devětsil Union of Modern Culture].
The group was active in organizing the Czech art scene of the period. Members published several magazines - ReD (Revue Devětsilu), Disk and Pásmo, as well as almanacs (most importantly Devětsil and Život, 1922) and organized several exhibitions. For the most part, Devětsil artists produced poetry and illustration, but they also made contributions to many other art forms, including sculpture, film and even calligraphy.
For about two years Devětsil functioned without any particular theoretical grounding, but as the members changed and those that remained developed and modified their style, it was decided, particularly by Karel Teige, that they begin formulating theories behind their activity. Most of these theories were to be spread through manifestos published by the group. Like any good theorist, Teige was always ready to change his ideas and sometimes moved from one aesthetic to an opposite one. The group formulated a movement that they called Poetism. The long echoed cry, “make it new,” was vital to the Poetists way of thinking. The Devětsil members were surrounded by the new in science, architecture and industry. Even their country was new. In order for art to survive, or at least in order to be worthwhile, it had to constantly be ahead of other changes in life. The Poetists advocated the law of antagonism. This law explains historical progress as reliant on discontinuity. New types and styles of art are continuously necessary for development and vital to these changes are conditions of contradiction. The first manifesto of Devětsil urged new artists to look deeper into ordinary objects for poetic quality. Skyscrapers, airplanes, mimes, and poster lettering were the new arts. Inspired by the Berlin Dadaists, Seifert claimed “art is dead.” Following him, Teige remarked, “the most beautiful paintings in existence today are the ones which were not painted by anyone.”
Between 1923 and 1925, the picture poem was a popular form among the Devětsil artists. Typography and optical poetry was the new lexical standard. Teige explained this transformation of language into visual art as relating to the rise of photography, film and new developments in book printing. For several members of Devětsil, the picture poem replaced painting and eventually both pictures and poems made their way from the page to film. Teige and Seifert began writing film scripts and using the dissolve technique as a way of poetically morphing objects into other objects.
In 1927 the Brno section discontinued its activities, followed by the Prague section in 1930.