Karel Teige (1900 – 1951) Czech Art Critic, Typographic Artist

Karel Teige (1900 – 1951) was a Czech art critic, painter, typographic artist and collagist. He was born in the Czech Republic.

Education

Teige earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from Prague’s Charles University.

Biography

Between the wars, Teige was a prominent figure in Czech art and architecture. He was the editor of many avant-garde magazines, including Disk, Stavba, and ReD, and wrote about photography. Devétsil’s first exhibits included Cubist-style paintings and drawings. He created the new medium of Pictorial Poems in 1923, fusing painting and poetry; inspired by Soviet Constructivism, he advocated for “proletarian” art. In 1929, he gave a lecture on new forms in Czech art at the Bauhaus in Dessau. Hannes Meyer invited him to organise conferences on “Sociology and Architecture,” a description of which appeared in the revue ReD in 1929.

His photomontage book covers, posters, and typography were notable as he later specialised in typography, photomontage, and stage design. He developed intricate collages focused on the metamorphosis of the female body from 1935 to 1941 when he turned to Surrealism.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The Design Encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

Additional Reading

Dluhosch, E., Svacha, R., & Frampton, K. (1999). Karel Teige/1900-1951: L’enfant terrible of the Czech modernist avant-garde. MIT Press. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3xtm7nT.

Michalová Rea. (n.d.). Karel Teige: Captain of the avant-garde. KANT. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3FNFDhG.

Teige, K. (2001). Modern Architecture in Czechoslovakia and other writings. Getty Research Institute for the History of Art & the Humanities Humanities. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3I2pBm3.

Teige, K. (2014). Alphabet. Redstone Press. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3HVd8AR.

Teige, K., & Dluhosch, E. (2002). The minimum dwelling = l’habitation minimum = die kleinstwohnung. MIT Press. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3rhEV8y.