Toyen was a pioneer in rejecting gender norms; her made-up name was genderless, she alternated male and female speech forms in her native Czech, wore dresses or workman's clothes to suit her mood... She drew erotica "as far back as I can remember", said she liked women, while her highly imaginative (frequently surreal) erotica suggests bi- or pan-sexuality. But she fled her family young, never spoke of them, and never went back.

Unlike her playful erotica, Toyen's surreal paintings are stark, often showing young girls (or their ghosts, or body parts, or shadows, or empty dresses) wandering wastelands and ruins alone. It's especially true of those with Sleep or Dream in the title. They suggest her dreams wrestled with a childhood of misery or outright abuse. But she never spoke of it--except surreally, in paint.

SOURCE: Magnetic Woman: Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic by Karla Huebner, 2020, pp. 10-11 & 224

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sk - Sl-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites