The Shooting Gallery II 1940

Curator: Looking at this image, there is a very somber atmosphere; bleak almost. Editor: Toyen, a central figure in the Czech Surrealist movement, produced "The Shooting Gallery II" in 1940. The piece utilizes ink and pen to create a stark, surreal landscape. It feels very dreamlike. What do you notice about its construction? Curator: The pen work seems incredibly detailed, creating different values by varying line thickness and density. This highlights both the living rooster on the lower left and the dead rooster near the center. Editor: Exactly. Note also the scale. Everything feels quite flat and the repetition of small strokes creates a textured terrain, like a factory floor perhaps? Consider that 1940 in Prague was not exactly a carefree time; what sort of commentary do you see being made in the scene here? Curator: The scene definitely feels charged. It depicts a young girl standing on what looks like a rocky shore with dead birds scattered around. One of these birds is alive, very present, contrasting so starkly with those killed, those consumed for capitalistic desires. The girl carries an instrument, likely used in the bird’s killing, the pen strokes becoming harsher in this space to portray some sort of action. Is she involved? Or is she more a reflection of childhood amidst brutality? Editor: It is a sharp question. Perhaps the scene is more about lost innocence or a critique of the era's social realities—the violence inherent in oppressive systems? Toyen, remember, actively resisted traditional gender roles, even adopting a non-gendered pseudonym. Curator: That's fascinating! So this refusal to engage in normative production, as it were, both in their artistic choices and in their life is visible even in something as seemingly innocuous as the chosen penwork and level of value assigned. How refusal can transform how we view production as a whole. Editor: Precisely. Through the artwork's manifest depiction, Toyen transforms not only the material realities but the possible perceptions one can encounter within them. Thanks for highlighting these insights! Curator: My pleasure. It seems that "The Shooting Gallery II" isn't merely a representation of a bleak landscape, but a reflection on cultural gender production and resistance within a changing sociopolitical background.