Key West Art & Historical Society Film Series Continues at Custom House Museum with “Toyen”

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“La Guerre”, a 1945 oil on canvas by Marie Cermínová, the Czech artist (1902-1980), who adopted the name Toyen. Director Jan Nemec’s film has been described as an “evocative, poetic, impressionistic, rather than a conventional” treatment of Toyen’s life, focused in large part on a span of time during WWII when she shielded Jewish poet and artist Jindrich Heisler from the Gestapo.
“La Guerre”, a 1945 oil on canvas by Marie Cermínová, the Czech artist (1902-1980), who adopted the name Toyen. Director Jan Nemec’s film has been described as an “evocative, poetic, impressionistic, rather than a conventional” treatment of Toyen’s life, focused in large part on a span of time during WWII when she shielded Jewish poet and artist Jindrich Heisler from the Gestapo.

Key West Art & Historical Society’s “Art as History, History as Art” film series continues this Thursday, August 18 at 6:00 pm in the Helmerich Research & Learning Center at the Custom House Museum, 281 Front Street with “Toyen,” an original portrait of Marie Cermínová, one of the most provocative artists of the 20th century.

Toyen co-founded the surrealist movement in her native Prague, survived the Nazis and the Communists, maintained artistic and personal relationships with artists Jindrich Heisler (whom she hid during WWII) and Jindrich Styrsky, and was an active member of the French surrealist circle. The film reveals how she broke through the male-dominated art world to create paintings and drawings often erotic in nature.

Directed by Jan Nemec, a leading filmmaker of the Czech New Wave, the 63-minute Czech film with English subtitles mixes archival footage with re-enactments, poems by Toyen, Heisler, and Styrsky, and a visual palette and soundscape that penetrate the interior life of this enigmatic and great artist.

Made possible in part by the generosity of the Helmerich Trust, the “Art As History, History As Art” film series is curated by Society board member and cineaste Michael Shields, who offers “films that expand our vistas and give us fresh views of our home.” Tickets for the event can be purchased online at KWAHS.ORG/LEARN: $5 for members, $10 for non-members. For more information about this and other programs, please contact Adele Williams, Director of Education, at 305-295-6616, ext. 115. Your Museums. Your Community. It takes an Island.

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