Maximum Imaginativeness An Exhibition on Modern Czech Book Design (1900-1950) from the Collections of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, 28 September to 18 December 2015

"The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library holds some of the finest examples of modern Czech book design and illustration. This exhibition will feature a display of books and journals published from the turn of the nineteenth century to the late 1940s, with examples ranging from the book beautiful (bibliophile) movement whose aesthetic principles were advanced by graphic artists Zdenka Braunerová, Vojtech Preissig, Frantiek Kupka, and Frantiek Kobliha, to works by avant-garde artists and writers centered around the literary association Devetsil, including Karel Teige, Vítezslav Nezval, Jaroslav Seifert, and Toyen. Also covered will be the various movements associated with this period, such as Symbolism, Decadence, Cubism, Constructivism, Poetism, and Surrealism. The exhibition will focus on the development of book design in twentieth-century Czechoslovakia, primarily in Prague, and illustrate the developments in machine type, graphic design, book covers and binding, photomontage, and collage."--