Jindřich Štyrský

About

Jindřich Štyrský (1899–1942) was a Czech avant-garde artist renowned for his contributions to Surrealism, painting, poetry, photography, graphic design, editing, and theater. Born into an intelligent and wealthy family, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague but left after a dispute with Professor Max Švabinský, traveling to the Adriatic where he met Marie Čermínová (Toyen) in 1922 on the island of Korčula. The pair became inseparable artistic collaborators, joining the Devětsil group in 1923, co-founding Artificialism in Paris during the mid-1920s, and establishing the Surrealist Group of Czechoslovakia in 1934 alongside Toyen, Bohuslav Brouk, Vítězslav Nezval, and Karel Teige. Štyrský served as editor for the Literary Courier, head set designer for the Liberated Theatre from 1928/1929, and illustrated works like Nezval's The Jewish Cemetery and Lautréamont's Songs of Maldoror.

Surrealist