Stěhovaci Kabinet 1934

In this collage by Jindrich Styrsky, we find a tower balanced on a furry paw, a woman leaning on the tower with what appears to be a tap emerging from it. I imagine Styrsky playfully cutting and pasting, piecing together fragments of reality into something wonderfully absurd. What was he thinking when he paired a classical statue pose with a giant paw? This collision of the refined and the primal is intriguing; maybe he wanted to provoke us to rethink these familiar forms and find new resonance? It feels like a game, a visual riddle where the sum is greater than its parts. This whimsical quality reminds me a little of Max Ernst, or maybe even some of the Surrealist photography of the time. Artists are always finding kindred spirits across time, riffing on each other’s ideas, and pushing the boundaries of what art can be. Ultimately, the meaning is up for grabs, and I think Styrsky would have liked it that way.