Years active | 1924–1930s |
---|---|
Location | Czechoslovakia |
Major figures | Karel Teige, Vítězslav Nezval, Toyen, Jindřich Štyrský |
Poetism (Czech: poetismus) was an artistic program in Czechoslovakia which belongs to the avant-garde; it has never spread abroad. It was invented by members of the avant-garde association Devětsil,[1] mainly Vítězslav Nezval and Karel Teige. It is mainly known in the literature form, but it was also intended as a lifestyle. Its poems were apolitical, optimistic, emotional, and proletaristic, describing ordinary, real things and everyday life, dealing mainly with the present time.[2] It uses no punctuation.
Poetism is an early 20th-century avant-garde literary movement in Czech between the two world wars. Poetism in early phase introduced to Czech art and synthesized Cubo-Futurism, Dadaism and Constructivism. It is a purely Czech artistic movement that mixes and translates the knowledge of other world-wide artistic movements.[3] It embraced all new art instead of being oriented solely toward literature and poetry. It was in the spirit of avant-garde and social utopian theories. It could be interpreted as a particular aspect of European Dadaism, which inspired by primitive and naïve art.[3] It was in the spirit of avant-garde and social utopian theories. Poetist's works are mainly featured by programmatic optimism, playfulness, humour, lyricism, sensuality, imagination, orientation toward pure art, a multiplicity of themes, and emphasis on associations. By redefining a number of areas of life and human activity and also certain para-artistic realms as art, poetism redrew the boundary between life and art.[4] Poetism was usually presented through poetry, drama and painting, which explored the beauty of new technologies innovatively. Artists in Poetism sought to use the avant-garde aesthetics to create things that could be made available to all. The most outstanding works of Poetism are its unique design of letterforms which express the mood of a poem, and the visual design of books expressed as artistic as the poetry itself.[5]
It was established in 1924 and appeared in many poems till World War II.[6]