TOYEN

Toyen, born Marie Čermínová (1902 – 1980), was a Czech painter and graphic artist, one of the most significant figures in Czech surrealism – even though she spent most of her life in Paris. She was an independent and original artist and woman in both Czech and global 20th-century art. She defied societal conventions with her bohemian lifestyle, and her work stood against philistinism and hypocrisy in art and society. She refused to accept the prevailing notion of the female role and considered herself equal to men, not only in her art but also in her personal life. Her work is characterized by originality and precise execution. Her lifelong friendship with the painter, writer, and photographer Jindřich Štyrský became very significant for her. Together, they joined the avant-garde association of the young Czech generation, the Umělecký svaz Devětsil (Devětsil Art Union).

Toyen lived for her art; avant-garde art was a means for her to liberate herself from the conventions of contemporary life. She was also an independent personality in her perception of sexuality, to which she adopted a very open and unconventional approach. She began painting her erotic drawings and paintings in the second half of the 1920s, when Czech society considered such art to be decadent pornography.