Toyen

        Czech painter/illustrator Toyen denounced her name and family (she was born Marie Cerminova and formed her own family of surrealist poets), referred to herself in the masculine, made explicit artwork, and earned herself a place in the infrequently infiltrated by women surrealist movement of the 1930's. She was by all standards, a badass.
        This is a large piece of why I love and admire her so much. Toyen was in command of herself, both as an artist and as a woman. She pushed the tight gender roles, refusing to be marginalized. This is reflected in her artwork, much of which is suggestive. It is important to note that female genitalia was no stranger to surrealism, and was in fact frequently represented on the male side of surrealism, but on completely different terms. Surrealism being very much about desires and fears, it from the male standpoint often presents the female form as either an object (desire) or as the archetypal castrated figure (fear). In Toyen's work the female form is much more commanding. They are still absolutely about sex, but she instead speaks from the female side of desire, creating a voice that was not typically seen in surrealist art (or most art in general). Toyen also frequently depicted the male genitalia (which was much less frequently represented), often making them proportionally larger than life to other figures in the drawings, a clear commentary.
        Toyen's body of work spans from paintings to drawn illustrations to photo collage. Her drawings are what first roped me in (the first image I posted being one that has been burned into my brain, something about it just resonates with me), but her entire range of work (which literally ranges from doodles of girls dreaming about penises to more typical surrealist paintings of barren landscapes littered with strange objects) is very strong. She frequently collaborated, both with painters and poets within the surrealist movement.

I was unable to find an online collection of her work that shows the true range of her work, but for now you canclick here, google image search her, or head to the library. (and if anyone knows of a larger online representation of her work please share!).




images: c. Toyen