Karel Teige (Czech, born Bohemia. 1900–1951)

A prolific editor, critic, and theorist of the Czech artistic and architectural avant-garde, Karel Teige (Czech, born Bohemia. 1900–1951) was an avid contributor to the international discourses of his day. He was editor from 1923 to 1928 of the journal Stavba (Building); and from 1927 to 1930 of ReD: Revue Devětsilu (Devětsil Review), the primary organ of the Prague-based Devětsil group. In 1925, he was invited by László Moholy-Nagy to write a volume (ultimately unrealized) on Tschechische Kunst (Czech Art) for the Bauhausbuch series. Teige participated in the Czech delegation at the third (Brussels 1930) and fourth (Berlin 1931) congresses of CIAM (Congrès internationaux d’architecture moderne). His books on architecture, including Moderní architektura v Československu (Modern architecture in Czechoslovakia; 1930) and Nejmenši byt (The Minimum Dwelling; 1932), were significant contributions to contemporary architectural debates.[1]

Teige was also a practicing graphic designer, responsible for many of his own publications as well as those of other authors. In 1928, he began exhibiting his book and journal designs as a guest with Kurt Schwitters’ Ring “neue Werbegestalter” (Circle of New Advertising Designers), and his striking pages for Vitĕzslav Nezval and Milča Mayerová’s Abeceda (Alphabet) were included in the landmark Film und Foto exhibition of 1929. Teige’s theorization of both architecture and design was informed by linguistic theory and functionalist aims. In early 1930, he lectured on typography, advertising, and architecture at Hannes Meyer’s Bauhaus and, the same year, offered a synopsis of his principles, alongside examples of his own work, in Heinz and Bodo Rasch’s Gefesselter Blick.[2]

[1] These were translated into English by the Getty Research Institute in 2000 and by the MIT Press in 2002, respectively.

[2] For an overview of Teige’s activities, see Eric Dluhosch and Rostislav Švácha, eds. Karel Teige, 1900–1951: l’Enfant Terrible of the Czech Modernist Avant-Garde (Cambridge, MA, and London: MIT Press, 1999).

Devětsil

Bedřich Feuerstein (Czech, 1892–1936), Jaromir Krejcar (Czech, born Austria. 1895–1949), Josef Šima (French, born Bohemia. 1891–1971), and Karel Teige
Book cover: Jaromír Krejcar, ed. Život II: Sborník nové krásy (Life II: An Anthology of New Beauty)
Prague: Obdor Umělecká Beseda, 1922 (published spring 1923)
Letterpress (in cloth binding)
10 x 7 1/4” (25.4 x 18.4 cm)

Karel Teige
Bound journal: *ReD*. Revue
Devětsil: *měsíčník pro moderní kulturu* (Devětsil Review: Monthly International Journal for Contemporary Form-Giving). Karel Teige, ed.
Vol. 1 (no. 1, October 1927–no. 10, July 1928)
Prague: Odeon-Jan Fromek, 1927–1928
9 x 7 x 1 1/2” (22.9 x 17.8 x 3.8 cm)
Cloth binding with cut-and-pasted photomechanical prints and ink; letterpress
Note: In total, *ReD* was published in three volumes: vol. 1 (no. 1, October 1927–no. 10, July 1928); vol. 2 (no. 1, September 1928–no. 10, June 1929); and vol. 3 (no. 1, October 1929–no. 10. [July] 1930).

Film und Foto

Karel Teige
Book cover: Vitĕzslav Nezval, *Abeceda: Tanecni kompozice Milča Mayerová* (Alphabet: Dance Compositions Milča Mayerová [photographed by Karel Paspa])
Prague: J. Otto, [December] 1926
Letterpress and halftone
11 3/4 x 9 1/8” (29.8 x 23.2 cm)

Designer unknown
Season entry card for *Film und Foto* (Stuttgart venue) made out to “Herrn Karel Teige,” 1929
Letterpress, typewriter, and ink inscription
3 x 4 3/16” (7.6 x 10.6 cm)

Book Design: Odeon

In September 1925, Jan Fromek founded Odeon, the Prague publishing house that would serve as the main publisher of works of the Devĕtsil group until 1931.

Karel Teige
Book cover: Guillaume Apollinaire, *Prsy Tiresiovy: nadrealistické drama o dvou jednánich s prologem* (The Breasts of Tiresias: Surrealist Drama in Two Acts and a Prologue)
Prague: Odeon, 1926
Lithograph
7 7/8 x 5 1/2” (20 x 14 cm)
Note: On October 23, 1926, the Czech production of this play premiered in Prague with scenography and costumes by Teige and others. The book cover was later included in the Ring “neue Werbegestalter” exhibition *Tentoonstellung internationaal recalme drukwerk foto’s fotomontages*, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (June 20–July 12, 1931).

Karel Teige
Book cover: Konstantin Biebl, *Zlom* (Rupture)
Prague: Odeon, 1928
Letterpress on yellow wove paper (illustrations) and ivory laid paper (text)
7 3/4 x 5 1/2” (19.7 x 14 cm)
Note: This cover was included in the Ring “neue Werbegestalter” exhibition *Tentoonstellung internationaal recalme drukwerk foto’s fotomontages*, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (June 20–July 12, 1931).

Karel Teige
Book cover: Konstantin Biebl, *S lodí jež dováží čaj a kávu: Poesie* (With a Ship Importing Tea and Coffee: Poetry)
Prague: Odeon, 1928
Letterpress
7 3/4 x 5 1/2” (19.7 x 14 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Paul Éluard, *Výbor básní* (Selected Poems)
Prague: Odeon, 1926
Lithograph
7 1/8 x 5 1/8” (18.1 x 13 cm)
Note: The book’s frontispiece is a portrait of Paul Éluard by Man Ray.

Karel Teige
Loose page from Konstantin Biebl, *Zlom* (Rupture): frontispiece, c. 1928
Letterpress
7 5/8 x 5 3/8” (19.4 x 13.7 cm)
Note: This page was included in the Ring “neue Werbegestalter” exhibition *Tentoonstellung internationaal recalme drukwerk foto’s fotomontages*, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (June 20–July 12, 1931).

B121.2.jpg — Karel Teige
Loose plate from Konstantin Biebl, *S lodí jež dováží čaj a kávu: Poesie* (With a Ship Importing Tea and Coffee: Poetry): frontispiece, c. 1928
Lithograph, hand-colored with watercolor
7 5/8 x 5 3/8” (19 x 13.7 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Karel Teige, *Svět, který se směje I*: *O humoru, clownech a dadaistech,* (A World of Laughter: On Humor, Clowns, and Dadaists)
Prague: Odeon, 1928
Lithograph
7 7/8 x 5 1/2” (20 x 14 cm)

Karel Teige
Loose page from Konstantin Biebl, *Zlom* (Rupture): opp. p. 33, c. 1928
Prague: Odeon, 1928
Letterpress
7 5/8 x 5 3/8” (19.4 x 13.7 cm)
Note: This page was reproduced in *Gefesselter Blick* 1930, p. 97, where Teige described it as a “picture from the printer’s chase,” in which the choice and combination of found elements evokes “the lyrical tones of a violin, of flowers, of perfume.” It was also included in the Ring “neue Werbegestalter” exhibition *Tentoonstellung internationaal recalme drukwerk foto’s fotomontages*, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (June 20–July 12, 1931).

B121.1.jpg — Karel Teige
Loose plate from Konstantin Biebl, *S lodí jež dováží čaj a kávu: Poesie* (With a Ship Importing Tea and Coffee: Poetry): appears prior to p. 11, c. 1928
Lithograph, hand-colored with watercolor
7 1/2 x 5 3/8” (19 x 13.7 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Jindřich Honzl, *Moderní ruské divadlo* (Modern Russian Theater): Meierhold, Tairow, Vachtangov, Granovskij, etc.
Prague: Odeon, 1928
Lithograph
7 1/4 x 5” (18.4 x 12.7 cm)

Book Design: Other Publishers

Karel Teige
Book cover: Jaroslav Seifert, *Na Vlnách TSF* [Télégraphe Sans Fil]: *Poesie* (On the Waves of the Telegraph: Poetry)
Prague: Vaclav Petr, 1925
Letterpress
8 7/8 x 6 3/4” (22.5 x 17.1 cm)
Note: This cover was included in the Ring “neue Werbegestalter” exhibition *Tentoonstellung internationaal recalme drukwerk foto’s fotomontages*, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (June 20–July 12, 1931).

Karel Teige
Book cover: Konstantin Biebl, Nebe peklo ráj (Heaven Hell Paradise)
Prague: Nakladatelství Sfinx Bohumila Jandy, 1931
Lithograph
8 1/4 x 5 7/8” (21 x 14.9 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Vítězslav Nezval, *Žena v množném čísle* (Women in the Plural)
Prague: Fr. Borový, 1936
Lithograph
8 1/2 x 5 3/8" (21.7 x 13.6 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Karel Konrád, *Dinah*
Prague: Václav Petr, 1928
Lithograph
7 3/4 x 5” (19.7 x 12.7 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Vítězslav Nezval, *Zpáteční lístek* (Return Ticket)
Prague: Fr. Borový, 1933
Lithograph
8 1/2 x 5 1/4” (21.6 x 13.3 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Theodor Procházka, *V předvečer války* (On the Eve of War)
Prague: Melantrich, 1945
Lithograph
9 x 6” (22.9 x 15.2 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Pierre Girard, *Poznejte lépe srdce žen* (Know the Hearts of Women Better)
Prague: A. Němec, 1928
Lithograph
6 1/4 x 3 1/2” (15.9 x 8.9 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Karel Čapek, *Hordubal*
Prague: Fr. Borový, 1934
Lithograph
7 9/16 x 4 7/8” (19.3 x 12.4 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Paul Verlaine, *Prokletí básníci* (The Cursed Poets)
Prague: Otto Girgal, 1946
Lithograph
8 3/8 x 6” (21.3 x 15.2 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Ladislav Klima, *Utrpení Knížete Sternenhocha: Groteskni Romanetto* (The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch: A Grotesque)
Prague: Plejada, 1928
Lithograph
7 5/16 x 5 3/16” (20.1 x 13.1 cm)

Karel Teige
Book cover: Laco (Ladislav) Novomeský, *Otvorené okná* (Open Windows)
Prague and Bratislava: L. Mazáč, 1935
Lithograph
7 1/4 x 5 3/8” (18.4 x 13.7 cm)

Stavba

Between 1923 and 1928, Teige served as editor of Stavba (Building), journal of the Klub architektů (Club of Architects) in Prague, and thereafter as a contributor. In 1929, under the auspices of Stavba, he organized the Czech presentation of the Deutsche Werkbund’s exhibition International Modern Architecture.

Karel Teige
Poster: *Výstava Mezinárodní Nové Architektury. Putovní výstava korporace Deutscher Verband”a Soubor Ceskoslovenské Nové Architektury* (Exhibition of International Modern Architecture. Traveling Exhibition of the Deutscher Werkbund and a Selection of Czechoslovak Modern Architecture), sponsored by *Stavba*, Municipal Library, Prague (May 16–31, 1929), 1929
Lithograph
25 1/8 x 37 1/2” (63.8 x 95.3 cm)
Note: This poster is reproduced in *ReD* vol. 2, no. 9 (May 1929), p. 270, and in *Gefesselter Blick* 1930, p. 97, where Teige describes the “clear structure” of the typography: the way in which the two-color red-and-black printing causes the eye to toggle between two different planes, front and back.

Designer unknown
Journal cover: *Stavba* (Building), vol. X, no. 4 (1931). Oldřich Starý, ed.
Lithograph
12 1/8 x 9 3/5” (30.8 x 24.4 cm)

Karel Teige, “Otázky sovĕtského urbanismu” (Questions of Soviet Urbanism) in *Stavba*, vol. X, no. 4 (1931): 62–63.

Karel Teige, “Otázky sovĕtského urbanismu” (Questions of Soviet Urbanism) in *Stavba*, vol. X, no. 4 (1931): 64–65.

Gefessellter Blick

Designer unknown
Book cover: Heinz and Bodo Rasch, eds. *Gefesselter Blick: 25 kurze Monografien und Beiträge über neue Werbegestaltung* (Captivated Gaze: 25 Short Monographs and Statements on New Advertising Design). Sponsored by the Ring der Werbegestalter des Schweizer Werkbundes
Stuttgart: Verlag Dr. Zaugg and Co., 1930
Letterpress and halftone
10 1/4 x 8 1/4” (26 x 21 cm)

Designer’s statement: “Karel Teige,” in Heinz and Bodo Rasch, eds. *Gefesselter Blick,* p. 95.

Designer’s statement: “Karel Teige,” in Heinz and Bodo Rasch, eds. *Gefesselter Blick*, pp. 96–97.

Designer’s statement: “Karel Teige,” in Heinz and Bodo Rasch, eds. *Gefesselter Blick*, p. 98.

Soviet Union

Teige first visited the USSR for the first time in fall 1925. He published on his experiences in January 1926 and his book Sovĕtská kultura (Soviet Culture) (Prague: Odeon, 1928).

Designer unknown
Exhibition catalogue: *Bauhaus Dessau wähend der Leitung unter Hannes Meyer, 1928–1930* (Bauhaus Dessau under the Director Hannes Meyer, 1928–1930).
Moscow: Moskva, 1931
Letterpress
6 5/8 x 4 7/8“ (16.8x 12.3 cm)
Formerly the Merrill C. Berman Collection; now Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA
Note: The stamp on the title page of this catalogue indicates that this copy formerly belonged to Teige.

Serial set: Zd. Nejedly, V. Prochazka, B. Smeral, K. Teige, eds. *Monographie Sovĕtský Svaz* (Monographs on the Soviet Union): *SSSR Sovĕtske Hospodářstvíi* (USSR: Soviet Economy), nos. 1–12
Prague: Prokopová, 1935
Cloth covered portfolio cover with eight loose booklets
8 1/2 x 5 1/4 x 1” (21.6 x 13.3 x 2.5 cm)

Title page of *Bauhaus Dessau wähend der Leitung unter Hannes Meyer, 1928–1930* with Karel Teige’s stamp.

Jiří Friml (pseudonym for Karel Poličanský)
Issue covers: Zd. Nejedly, V. Prochazka, B. Smeral, K. Teige, eds. Monographie Sovĕtský Svaz (Monographs on the Soviet Union): *SSSR Sovĕtske Hospodářstvíi* (USSR: Soviet Economy), nos. 1–12 (1935)
Each: letterpress
Each: 8 1/4 x 5 3/8” (21 x 13.7 cm)

Serial set: Zd. Nejedly, V. Prochazka, B. Smeral, K. Teige, eds. *Monographie Sovĕtský Svaz* (Monographs on the Soviet Union): *Organisace práce* (USSR: Work Organization), nos. 13–22
Prague: Prokopová, 1935
Cloth covered portfolio cover with seven loose booklets
8 1/2 x 5 1/4 x 1” (21.6 x 13.3 x 2.5 cm)

The works shown here represent only a selection from the collection. Please contact us for further inquiry.