Outsiders: Toyen

Toyen (1902-1980), born Marie Čermínová, was a gender-nonconforming Czech surrealist painter. They blurred boundaries not only of gender but of artistic form, producing erotically charged, dreamlike images that challenged both political oppression and societal taboos. 

For Further Reading:

• One of a kind
• Mythic Being
• Toyen - Surreal/Radical
• Toyen
• Surrealist Oeuvre of Toyen: Fragmented and Dissolving Bodies
• Eroticism, Identity, and Cultural Context: Toyen and the Prague Avant-Garde
• Toyen

This month we're talking about Outsiders -- women who marched to the beat of their own drum and rejected stereotypes about what women "should" be. They are aesthetic pioneers, norm-benders, and often the only woman in their field.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Womanica. This month, we're talking about outsiders, women who
marched to the beat of their own drum and rejected
stereotypes about what women should be. Their aesthetic pioneers, nor menders,
and often the only women.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
In their field.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Today, we're traveling to early twentieth century Prague to meet
an artist who never played by the rules of gender,
of art, of society. This Wromanican sidestep gendered expectations, embracing
androgyny in both appearance and identity well before there was
vocabulary for it. Let's talk about Toyen. Born Maria Cherminowa

(00:44):
in nineteen oh two in Prague, Toyan rejected conventional femininity
from an early age. Drawn to the idea of a
more bohemian lifestyle, they left their home at just seventeen
years old.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Soon after.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
They adopted the name Toyen utiger, thought to stem from
the French word for citizen. It was deliberately gender ambiguous.
For that reason, will refer to Toyen as they them.
Throughout Toyan resisted conventional ways of thinking, especially when it
came to gender. They preferred using their pseudonym instead of
their given name, spoke in Czech using only masculine grammar,

(01:20):
and alternated between dressing and traditionally masculine and feminine clothing.
Despite their out of the norm aesthetic and lifestyle, they
quickly managed to find an intellectual counterpart after leaving home,
the like minded artist Jindrich Stirsky.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
The two had become lifelong collaborators.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
In nineteen twenty three, Toyan and Yindrich both joined the
radical Czech avant garde group Devietzil. The group was experimental
in nature and fused art, poetry, and politics to push boundaries.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
While in this group, Toya displayed their work to the public.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Their paintings were inspired by Cubism and featured geometric forms
and muted colors. Between nineteen twenty five and nineteen twenty nine,
Toyan and Yindrich lived and showcase their art in Paris.
Just as they refused to be siloed into gender specific labels,
Toyan also rejected being referred to as a painter. To

(02:14):
avoid conventional categorization and think more expansively, Toyan and Yindrick
even came up with their own abstract art movement called artificialism.
Artificialism treated painting like poetry. It was focused not on
representing reality, but on expressing interstates and emotion using artistic
tools like color and texture. In the nineteen thirties, Toyan

(02:38):
returned to Prague. Their artistic practice evolved as they became
increasingly interested in exploring the line between reality and imagination.
A few years later, Toyen helped found Czechoslovakia's first surrealist group.
Women and female forms began to feature heavily in Toyan's work,
but instead of fetishizing women, Toyen broke the apart, fragmented

(03:01):
their forms, turned them into smoke shadows or mythic figures.
The results were erotic and deeply eerie. When World War
II broke out, Toyen state and Nazi occupied Prague, and
the surrealists were driven underground.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Toy And staying wasn't just a political act, it was
a personal risk.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
They hit their close friend, a Jewish poet, and their
apartment for years.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
At the same time, they created.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
One of their most haunting works, The Shooting Gallery, a
series of war inspired drawings filled with ghostly figures, shattered bodies,
and dreamed like violence. These pieces didn't necessarily show battlefields,
but they captured the psychological weight of the war.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
In nineteen forty eight, the Communists.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Took power in Czechoslovakia, and in search of greater artistic freedom,
Toyan returned to France.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
This time for good.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Once settled, they were quickly adopted by the Paris Surrealists.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Toyen continued to.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Play with their surrealist style through the nineteen sixties and seventies.
Their later work grew even more abstract and psychological, less
about figures, more about presence and atmosphere. They worked primarily
with collage to unpack and restructure erotic forms. They were
known to take inspiration from watching X rated films.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Toyen died in Paris in nineteen eighty.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
They never offered up a clean label for who they were,
nor did they seem to want to. Their work signals
that they were uninterested in conformity, uninterested in being interpreted.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Through someone else's lens.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Their legacy is about choosing freedom, creative, political, and personal,
no matter the cost.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
All month, we're talking about Outsiders.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at
Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister
and co creator.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Talk to you tomorrow.