Lot 164

Marie Čermínová - Toyen (1902 - 1980) HIDE, WAR!

The title of the cycle was taken by Toyen from Poems by Isidore Lucien Ducasse, known as Comte de Lautréamont (1846 - 1870), who was considered the historical precursor of the Dadaists and Surrealists. The cycle is completed by a poem by Henry Heisler from 1944. In the same year, as the war was coming to an end, Toyen created a set of drawings responding to the situation. Their theme is destruction and death as a consequence of the war. The artist interpreted them as a series of dreamlike episodes in which the main role is played by animal skeletons moving in an empty, devastated landscape. In individual compositions they are supplemented by live birds, insects, or human traces indicating the continuation of life. The original drawings were executed in a mimetically meticulous texture in fine pen and ink, with the addition of coloured chalks and white wash. The offered albun appears repeatedly on the art market due to the number of 1000 copies issued. The album of nine zinc prints (cover 440 x 320 mm) was published by Fr. Borový, Prague 1946. Reproductions were printed by the Gravure Printing Plant V. Neubert and sons, Prague 1946. The size shown is the size of the paper.