| OVERVIEW
During the period between the two World Wars, the Czechoslovak Republic was an important and prolific center for avant-garde book design. Signed, limited editions showcased experimental design techniques, high-quality materials, and specially commissioned graphics. Book design for the general public, although mass-produced and much more affordable, was similarly innovative and attentive to questions of design. Not recognized as an important focus for academic inquiry until the mid-1970s, Czech book design has recently been the subject of several exhibitions and publications, including "The Czech avant-garde and Czech book design: the 1920s and 1930s" at the Florham-Madison Campus Library, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey. Drawn from the Emma Linen Dana collection, the books in that exhibition, many of them now in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library through the facilitation of Dr. James Fraser, comprise the foundation from which this essay explores Czech book design.
POETISM
CONSTRUCTIVISM
SURREALISM SOCIALIST
REALISM ONLINE
IMAGES Stephen
H. Van Dyk, Librarian August
2004 |
Avant-garde
Czech book design sprang from the Devetsil Artistic Union, a highly
influential group of avant-garde poets, writers, artists, and designers
active from 1920 to 1931. ReD [1927-31], the most important
of Devetsil 's journals, published work by leading names in the
fields of writing, art, and architecture, among them poetry by Mallarmé
and Apollinaire; prose by James Joyce; reproductions of art by Arp,
Chagall, Kandinsky, Brancusi, Mondrian and El Lissitzky; and articles
on the architecture of Le Corbusier, Gropius, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Czech designers were also in direct contact with a range of artistic
activity in Europe, especially France and Russia, and collaborated
on projects with several important journals, including Merz,
the publication of German Dada artist Kurt Schwitters. The Devetsil
group encompassed, if at times uncomfortably, Czech artists working
in two major styles, Poetism and Constructivism. Czech avant-garde
book design separates broadly into four major movements: Poetism,
Constructivism, Surrealism, and Socialist Realism. Each approach
developed and utilized its own unique philosophy and aesthetic vocabulary.
During
the earlier years of the Devetsil group, Poetism dominated the discourse
of the Czech avant-garde. Poetism stressed the personal vision of
the individual artist, reveled in the imagination, and encouraged
self-expression. Like Artificialism, essentially a later form of
Poetism which explored the beauty of new technologies, Poetism was
a uniquely Czech innovation. Artist Karel Teige and poet Vítezslav
Nezval introduced Poetism in 1923; artists Jindrich Štyrsky
and Toyen (Marie Cermínová) pioneered Artificialism
between 1926 and 1931. Poetism lent itself to expression through
poetry, drama, and painting, and these were the main areas in which
the style was used. Karel Teige (typographer) and Jindrich Štyrsky
(photographer) designed Vítezslav Nezval's Pantomimi.Verše
1922-1924 [1924], which beautifully illustrates the approach of
Poetism. The arrangement of the photographs echoes the content of
the poems, functioning as visual verse. Often, letterforms express
the mood or form of a poem. The visual design of the book is as
much an artistic expression as the poetry itself. 
In
direct contrast to Poetism, Constructivism stressed objectivity
and machine production. Optimistic and sometimes even utopian, Constructivist
design celebrated technology, progress, and the future. Bauhaus
and de Stijl influences can be seen in Czech Constructivist book
design, which was particularly dominant in the mid- to late 1920s.
Photography, typography, and theater sets provided rich areas of
activity for Constructivist designers, and architecture was also
an important source of inspiration. Ladislav Sutnar's design for
a 1932 translation of George Bernard Shaw's Captain Brassbound's
Conversion [1932] utilizes many devices characteristic of Constructivism:
photomontage; functional, sanserif typography; a strong grid structure
with diagonal orientation; and the presence of a circle, an important
iconic element for many Constructivist designers and a characteristic
of all book designs for Devetsil by Odeon Press, their publisher
from 1925.
As
the European and Soviet political and economic climate deteriorated
in the 1930s, the playfulness of Poetism and the technologically-centered
optimism of Constructivism became less plausible as aesthetic strategies
for Czech book designers. Surrealism, with its strong undercurrents
of anxiety, dark eroticism, and the unconscious, provided a much
more accurate reflection of the cultural climate. Teige, always
an important figure in the Devetsil group, was active in forming
an association with the French Surrealists, and Surrealism became
the dominant influence in Czech book design. Jindrich Štyrsky's
design for a Czech translation of French Surrealist poet Paul Eluard's
La Rose publique [1936] exhibits the dreamlike qualities
of Surrealism, creating a fantastical landscape for unreal, disturbing
occurrences. Artists like the German painter Max Ernst (see, for
example, The Forest, 1927-8) influenced Štyrsky and
other Czech avant-garde designers working in the Surrealist style.
By
the end of the 1930s, functionalism dominated Czech book design.
Social Realism inspired the design of books that were legible, practical,
and affordable. Mass produced, the books were often intended as
a vehicle for social critique. Zdenek Rossmann's design for Civilisovaná
žena (The civilized woman) [1939] utilizes the communicative
properties of photography to reinforce the book's message about
the need for reform in women's clothing. Bauhaus-inspired typography
contributes to the functionalism of the design.