Budík, Arnošt, Jiří Havlícek, Josef Kremlácek, and Václav Pajurek.

[CZECH POST-WAR SURREALISM – THE LACOSTE GROUP] Group of six catalogs and related ephemera by the Lacoste group, a Brno-based unofficial association of post-war Czech surrealist artists.

Group of six catalogs by the Lacoste group, a Brno-based association of post-war Czech surrealist artists, who also issued a samizdat art periodical entitled Styx between 1966 and 1969. See the list below for detailed descriptions. Item #P5356

1. Svědectví prázdného ticha. Leták skupiny Lacoste u příležitosti československé výstavy pařížských surrealistů [Evidence of empty silence. Flyer of the Lacoste group, on the occasion of the Czechoslovak exhibition of the Paris surrealists]. [Brno]: 1968. Broadside, 30 × 21.5 cm, with mimeographed text and illustration to recto, text in Czech and French. With horizontal fold, else very good.

An apparently unrecorded broadside by the Lacoste group, a Brno-based association of post-war Czech surrealist artists, who also issued a samizdat art periodical entitled Styx between 1966 and 1969. Signed February 1968, the text apparently voices protest against the first surrealist exhibition to be held in Czechoslovakia since 1947. The more liberal climate of the mid-to-late 1960s, which would soon culminate in the Prague Spring of 1968, allowed for an exhibit entitled "The Pleasure Principle" (Princip slasti), to be held at Brno, Prague, and Bratislava. Aside from four pre-war surrealists, the exhibit represented the post-war generation of French surrealists in the tradition of Breton. See also Derek Sayer, Prague: Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History, pp. 432-434. A very uncommon glimpse into one of the ways surrealism survived in post-war Czechoslovakia, along with the activities of Skupina Ra and similar groups.

As of September 2026, only one copy located via KVK, OCLC.


2. Umetnička Galerija Kruševac M. Zakiča 12. Nevidljivo ogledalo: integracija želje i sna. Izložba grafika i kolaža čehoslovačkih nadrealista [The invisible mirror: the integration of desire and dream. Exhibition of graphic art and collages by Czechoslovak surrealists]. Kruševac: Umetnička Galerija, 1967. Square octavo (18 × 18.2 cm). Original staple-stitched printed wrappers; [24] pp. Six full-page black-and-white photographs. Very good or better.

Scarce Serbian-language catalog for an exhibition of Czechoslovak surrealist works held in the town of Kruševac in September-October 1967. Evidently organized by the Czech surrealist writer and artist Arnošt Budík, who has written a short preface. With reproductions of work by Václav Pajurek, Albert Marenčin, František Malý, Jiří Havlíček, Budík, and Josef Kremláček, most of them associated with the short-lived “Lacoste Group” of surrealists active in Brno in the 1960s. With a short manifesto by the group, as well as short biographical information and a chronology of Czechoslovak surrealism starting in 1920.

As of September 2026, KVK, OCLC only show the copy at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Metropolitan Museum.


3. Výstava skupiny Fantasmagie: Poezie Fantasmagie [An exhibition of the Fantasmagie Group: The poetry of Fantasmagie]. Galerie Zámek Hradec u Opavy, květen-srpen 1967. Opava: Galerie Zámek Hradec u Opavy, [1967]. Octavo (23.5 × 17 cm). Original staple-stitched decorative wrappers; 23, [1] pp. Nine black-and-white reproductions. Very good.

Scarce exhibition catalog of the Fantasmagie group around Aubin Pasque and the C.I.A.F.M.A. (Centrale International de l’Actualité Fantastique et Magique). Held May-August 1967. Contains poems by Budík, Havlíček, Pajurek as an hommage to Pasque, introductions by Ivo Petr and Budík. Among the 177 exhibited works were paintings and graphic art by Jac Boonen, Max Bucaille, Victor Delhez, Marijan Dentoni, Robert Geenens, Albert Dupuis, Jean-Jacques Gailliard, Piero Gnesi, Rudolf Haus, Jacqueline Hondermarq, Luigi Johannis, Alexis Keunen, Leherb, Robert Navez, and many others. As of September 2026, KVK, OCLC only show the copy at the Metropolitan Museum.


4. Současná surrealistická koláž. Alšova Jihočeská galerie Hluboká nad Vltavou, únor 1967. Dům umění, České Budějovice [Contemporary surrealist collages. Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká on the Vltava, February 1967. House of Art, České Budějovice]. With an original printed invitation card. České Budějovice: Dům umění, 1967. Octavo (23 × 9.9 cm). Original staple-stitched photographic self-wrappers; [16] pp. including wrappers. Eight photographs. Very good.

Scarce exhibition catalog of surrealist collages, evidently based on a similar exhibit the previous year, which was organized and curated by members of the short-lived Brno-based “Lacoste” Group of Czech surrealists. With an introduction by Arnošt Budík and a short text in French by Hynek Rulíšek. Graphic design of catalog and invitation by Karel Fiala. KVK, OCLC show a sole copy, at the Czech National Library and the Metropolitan Museum.


5. Oblastní galerie výtvarného umění Gottwaldov zámek, grafický kabinet. Současná surrealistická koláž 10 zemí. od 20. XII. 1966 do 31. I. 1967 [Contemporary surrealist collage from ten countries. From December 20, 1966 to Januar 31, 1967]. Gottwaldov: Oblastní galerie výtvarného umění, 1966. Single leaf, folded four times to create a leporello-style pamphlet (23 × 9.9 cm). Four black-and-white reproductions. Very good.

Regional variant of this exhibition catalog of surrealist collages (see no. 4). With an introduction by Arnošt Budík and an accompanying text by Václav Pajurek, founding members of the group. KVK, OCLC show a sole copy, at the Czech National Library and the Metropolitan Museum.


6. Juraj Mojžiš, editor, and Albert Marenčin, translator. Nečujné blesky. Galéria mladých [Inaudible lightning. Gallery of the Young]. Bratislava: Galéria mladých, 1968. Small quarto (25.6 × 20.8 cm). Original printed wrappers; 19 pp. Signed and inscribed by Albert Marenčin. Corners lightly creased, still about very good.

Scarce anthology of surrealist poetry in translation, with texts by Jean-Louis Bedouin, Guy Cabanel, Jean Pierre Duprey, Yves Elleouet, Radovan Ivsic, Roger Meyere and others, and with illustrations by Igor Imro. Published on the occasion of the Bratislava instantiation of the famous 1968 surrealist exhibition “Princip slasti.” Signed and inscribed by the translator, Albert Marenčin, in Bratislava, July 1968. KVK, OCLC show a single copy, at the British Library.

Price: €600.00

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