An artist, a theorist, a critic, a poet, a lecturer, an editor - and one of the central figures of the Czech Avant-garde movement, Karel Teige. Yet his work, and especially his collages are not as well known than they should be.

He was a member of the Surrealist group Devětsil, edited avant-garde journals such as ReD and Stavba, and taught sociology of architecture at the Bauhaus.

From 1934 until his death in 1950, he produced nearly 400 collages. He used the medium to construct poetic realities and dreamscapes.  Many of the compositions use the female body, not necessarily as the subject matter but ‘rather the raw material, the grammar from which Teige makes lyrical or political or emotional statements’. Taken from 'K A R E L  T E I G E: Photomontaged Dreams, Landscape and the female nude in Teige's collages by Mark Hearld in the Central Europe Review.

These fictional landscapes remain provocative and powerful and we hope you like them as much as we do.

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If you enjoyed reading about Karel Teige, you may enjoy our post about Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich, the duo who changed the face of Avant-garde Theatre.