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DOI Artikel:Marciniak, Hanna: Poetyki kolażu w czeskim surrealizmie: Karel Teige, Jindřich Štyrský, Jindřich Heisler
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29070#0237
POETYKI KOLAŻU W CZESKIM SURREALIZMIE
235
"progress," took in the Czech surrealist collage a specihc form. Paradoxically, and
most interestingly, its "new language" was to emerge from the elements which were
repetitions, quotations or reinterpretations of something that had already existed.
The author believes that the closer the Czech avant-garde was to surrealism, the
morę acutely it realized that innovation always repeated ready-made elements.
Along the evolution of the surrealist aesthetics, the idea of the "pure language"
changed into that of abolishing the semiotic difference between the word, the image,
and the thing. On the one hand, it was a symptom of the fetishization of language,
which resulted from the radicalization of the parallel between artistic representation
and substitution (representing things by their semantic equivalents). On the other,
the surrealist synthesis of the media was a way of searching for the most perfect
artistic form of the representation of surreality. That is why it is difficult to classify
surrealism in formal and technical terms.
The paper is divided into three parts in which the evolution of the surrealist
collage from the poeticist image-poem through the surrealist intertextual
photomontage (Kareł Teige), the collage-novel (Jindrich Styrsky), the late "realized
poems" and three-dimensional object-books of Jindrich Heisler has been shown on
specific examples. In the part devoted to Teige, the author analyzed connections
between his theory and criticism and collage practice, focusing on the figural
character of his collages, his detachment from the aesthetics of abstraction, and
many allusions to European art (mostly painting and photography), not only of the
20^ century. The visual intertextuality of Teige's collages has been considered as an
attempt to develop a "metalanguage of modern art." The author tries to reconstruct a
complex process of developing a multi-coded language which is both coherent and
fragmentary. The most important is the problem of intertextuality, for which an
adequate theoretical context, reaching beyond the purely textual, has been found.
Several of Teige^s collages have been analyzed in terms of intertextuality, e.g. his
photomontage no. 233, alluding to the famous photo by Man Ray, Afo7m7??e?d de
Rade. The emphasis falls on the surrealist version of iconoclasm, founded on the
subversive and often parodist reception of the well-known iconographic conventions
of European painting, dating back to antiquity. The next problem addressed is a
parallel between Teige's photomontages and his automatic texts as examples of the
textual collage. The conclusion points at a difference between the "classic" surrealist
idea of the automatic writing, which is "pure," spontaneous, immediate, authentic,
and "new," and Teige's reinterpretation of automatism, according to which the text
emerges not just from the spontaneous, unconscious, and irrational production of
signs, but also from a reflective, intellectual gamę with the ready-made elements. In
Teige's case, it was a self-conscious imitation of automatism.
As far as Jindrich Styrsky is concerned, the author is primarily interested in
the parallel of the collage and photography, sińce the artist was interested in both
techniques at the same time: he considered them experimental in contrast to
painting. The starting point of the analysis is the collage-novel, which is connected
with the avant-garde idea of the book illustration as a unit in its own right, whose
value or meaning is not fully determined by the surrounding text. Then the collage
235
"progress," took in the Czech surrealist collage a specihc form. Paradoxically, and
most interestingly, its "new language" was to emerge from the elements which were
repetitions, quotations or reinterpretations of something that had already existed.
The author believes that the closer the Czech avant-garde was to surrealism, the
morę acutely it realized that innovation always repeated ready-made elements.
Along the evolution of the surrealist aesthetics, the idea of the "pure language"
changed into that of abolishing the semiotic difference between the word, the image,
and the thing. On the one hand, it was a symptom of the fetishization of language,
which resulted from the radicalization of the parallel between artistic representation
and substitution (representing things by their semantic equivalents). On the other,
the surrealist synthesis of the media was a way of searching for the most perfect
artistic form of the representation of surreality. That is why it is difficult to classify
surrealism in formal and technical terms.
The paper is divided into three parts in which the evolution of the surrealist
collage from the poeticist image-poem through the surrealist intertextual
photomontage (Kareł Teige), the collage-novel (Jindrich Styrsky), the late "realized
poems" and three-dimensional object-books of Jindrich Heisler has been shown on
specific examples. In the part devoted to Teige, the author analyzed connections
between his theory and criticism and collage practice, focusing on the figural
character of his collages, his detachment from the aesthetics of abstraction, and
many allusions to European art (mostly painting and photography), not only of the
20^ century. The visual intertextuality of Teige's collages has been considered as an
attempt to develop a "metalanguage of modern art." The author tries to reconstruct a
complex process of developing a multi-coded language which is both coherent and
fragmentary. The most important is the problem of intertextuality, for which an
adequate theoretical context, reaching beyond the purely textual, has been found.
Several of Teige^s collages have been analyzed in terms of intertextuality, e.g. his
photomontage no. 233, alluding to the famous photo by Man Ray, Afo7m7??e?d de
Rade. The emphasis falls on the surrealist version of iconoclasm, founded on the
subversive and often parodist reception of the well-known iconographic conventions
of European painting, dating back to antiquity. The next problem addressed is a
parallel between Teige's photomontages and his automatic texts as examples of the
textual collage. The conclusion points at a difference between the "classic" surrealist
idea of the automatic writing, which is "pure," spontaneous, immediate, authentic,
and "new," and Teige's reinterpretation of automatism, according to which the text
emerges not just from the spontaneous, unconscious, and irrational production of
signs, but also from a reflective, intellectual gamę with the ready-made elements. In
Teige's case, it was a self-conscious imitation of automatism.
As far as Jindrich Styrsky is concerned, the author is primarily interested in
the parallel of the collage and photography, sińce the artist was interested in both
techniques at the same time: he considered them experimental in contrast to
painting. The starting point of the analysis is the collage-novel, which is connected
with the avant-garde idea of the book illustration as a unit in its own right, whose
value or meaning is not fully determined by the surrounding text. Then the collage