Defying Fascism: The Surrealist Art of Toyen and Tita in Nazi-Occupied Prague and Paris

This paper examines the capacity of Surrealism to confront fascist ideology and violence between 1939 and 1945, with a focus on the artists Toyen (1902–1980, née Marie Čermínová) and Tita (1909–1942, née Edita Hirschová). Toyen was a leading figure of the Czechoslovak Surrealist Group since its founding in Prague in 1934. Tita, a Jewish artist born in Prague, became a founding member of the collective La Main à plume in Paris in 1941. While some Surrealist artists were able to escape German-occupied Europe, including the movement’s leader André Breton, Toyen and Tita were among those who stayed behind, facing a Nazi-imposed ban on their artistic activities and the extraordinary challenges of occupation and war. At grave personal risk, each of them continued to produce their art illegally while contributing to clandestine Surrealist publications in their respective contexts. Toyen collaborated closely with the artist and poet Jindřich Heisler, whom she sheltered in her small apartment between 1941 and 1945 after he had defied a summons for deportation due to his Jewish heritage. Tita contributed drawings to the clandestine review La Main à plume and the group’s other publications before being arrested and deported to Auschwitz in 1942, where she was tragically killed. Through a comparative study of Toyen’s and Tita’s aesthetic strategies and their modes of artistic collaboration in the face of Nazi oppression, this paper highlights the innovative work and resilience of these artists who challenged fascism during World War II.