Jan Švankmajer

Jan Švankmajer (born 1934, Prague) is internationally renowned for his distinctive film work—directing puppet, animated, and live-action films that belong to the Czech avant-garde. Together with his wife, the painter Eva Švankmajerová, he became a member of the Surrealist Group of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1970. Shortly thereafter, Švankmajer began creating striking collages and assemblages distinguished by their form, plasticity, and haptic qualities. Throughout their lives, he and his wife worked side by side; after her death, he continues to engage in an ongoing dialogue with her. In Švankmajer’s artistic language—which visibly flowed into both his visual art and his expressive, hyperbolized film work—one can observe the influence of Max Ernst and René Magritte, as well as Hieronymus Bosch and Giuseppe Arcimboldo. What is unmistakable in his work, however, is a fascination with the haptic, with tactile art and an unconventional fusion of materials, which included, among other things, animal bones and fur. Švankmajer points to surrealism as a timeless movement that encourages endless imagination.