# Czech Poetist Book Design (Devětsil)

> The book and magazine design of the Czech Devětsil circle, where Karel Teige and his colleagues turned constructivist tools (asymmetry, sans and slab capitals, heavy bars, photomontage) toward Poetism's lyrical celebration of travel, cinema, jazz and the circus. Covers and 'picture poems' set type among postcards, ocean liners and aeroplanes, and in Abeceda (1926) a dancer's body poses as each letter of the alphabet.

- Period: 1922–1938
- Where: Central Europe
- Origin: Prague and Brno, around the Devětsil group (founded 1920) and its theorist Karel Teige
- Branch: Avant-garde
- Also known as: Poetism, Devětsil typography, Czech avant-garde book design, Obrazové básně (picture poems)
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/czech-poetism/

## How it works

- Treat the cover or page as a picture poem: assemble type, bars, arrows and found photographs into one lyrical composition.
- Borrow constructivist asymmetry, sans and slab capitals and red-and-black printing, but aim for delight rather than agitation.
- Use found images of modern travel and leisure (ocean liners, aeroplanes, ports, film stars, postcards) as the emotional content.
- Let letters double as figures: enlarge single glyphs and pair them with photographs of bodies, objects or signals.
- Keep the ground open and white so the montage reads as an airy, rhythmic arrangement rather than a crowded collage.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (defining)
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (defining)
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (characteristic)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic)
- [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (occasional)
- [Visual tension](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/visual-tension/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (characteristic)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (characteristic)
- [Eclectic mixing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/eclectic-mixing/) (characteristic)
- [Slab serif](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/slab-serif/) (occasional)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (occasional)
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (characteristic)
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Halftone & Ben-Day dots](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/halftone-and-ben-day-dots/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (defining)
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Photomontage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/photomontage/) (defining)
- [Found & vernacular imagery](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/found-and-vernacular-imagery/) (characteristic)
- [Straight photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/straight-photography/) (characteristic)
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (defining)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (defining)
- [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (characteristic)
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (characteristic)
- [Technological & futurist](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/technological-and-futurist/) (occasional)

Avoids: Central symmetry, Classical text block, Floral & vegetal, Abundant decoration, Blackletter, Painterly illustration, Authoritative & institutional

Palette: #f2ebdc, #161514, #d22f22, #2459a6, #e9b52c

Typefaces: Jobbing grotesque capitals from Prague print shops, Egyptienne slab-serif display capitals, Teige's constructed letter compositions in Abeceda (1926)

Known for: Karel Teige & Vítězslav Nezval, Abeceda (1926), with Milča Mayerová's dance photographed by Karel Paspa; Karel Teige, typography for Jaroslav Seifert's Na vlnách TSF (1925); ReD (Revue Devětsilu, 1927–1931), edited and designed by Karel Teige; Otakar Mrkvička, photomontage cover for Jaroslav Seifert's Samá láska (1923); Jindřich Štyrský and Toyen, book covers for Prague publishers (late 1920s–1930s); Pásmo, magazine of the Brno Devětsil group

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Russian Constructivism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/constructivism.md) (1917–1934)
- Influenced by: [Die Neue Typographie](https://stylogeny.com/styles/new-typography.md) (1923–1940)
- Influenced by: [Dada](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dada.md) (1916–1924)
- Influenced by: [Cubist Pictorial Space](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cubism.md) (1907–1925)
- Influenced by: [Surrealist Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/surrealism.md) (1924–1960)
- Alike in its design choices: [Bauhaus](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bauhaus.md) (1919–1933), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Swiss Punk / New Wave Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/new-wave-typography.md) (1968–1990), 61% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Out-of-Square Hangul Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/out-of-square-hangul.md) (1985–present), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Emigre & Early Digital Type](https://stylogeny.com/styles/emigre.md) (1984–1998), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Milanese Industrial Modernism (Olivetti, Pirelli, Studio Boggeri)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/milanese-industrial-modernism.md) (1933–1975), 56% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [American Mid-Century Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/american-modernism.md) (1940–1970), 55% alike

## Real works

- [Odjezd na Kytheru (Departure for Cythera), picture poem](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Teige,_Odjezd_na_Kytheru_(Departure_for_Cythera)_(1923%E2%80%9324)._Prague_City_Gallery.png): Karel Teige, 1923–24, Prague City Gallery (GHMP); image via Wikimedia Commons (scan from Dluhosch & Švácha, Karel Teige/1900–1951, MIT Press, 1999)
- [Samá láska (Sheer Love) by Jaroslav Seifert, front cover](https://expozice.muzeumliteratury.cz/en/exhibit-sama-laska-sheer-love): Otakar Mrkvička (cover); Nakladatelství Večernice, 1923, Museum of Czech Literature (Památník národního písemnictví), Prague
- [Pantomima by Vítězslav Nezval, front cover](https://expozice.muzeumliteratury.cz/en/exhibit-pantomima-pantomime): Jindřich Štyrský (cover); Ústřední studentské knihkupectví a nakladatelství, 1924, Museum of Czech Literature (Památník národního písemnictví), Prague
- [Na vlnách TSF (On the Waves of the TSF) by Jaroslav Seifert, front cover](https://expozice.muzeumliteratury.cz/en/exhibit-na-vlnach-tsf-on-the-waves-of-the-tsf): Karel Teige (typography); Václav Petr (publisher), 1925, Museum of Czech Literature (Památník národního písemnictví), Prague
- [Válka s Mloky (War with the Newts) by Karel Čapek, first edition, cover](https://ceskadigitalniknihovna.cz/uuid/uuid:701dd500-f0e0-11e2-b28b-001018b5eb5c): Karel Teige (cover); Fr. Borový (publisher), 1936, National Library of the Czech Republic, via the Czech Digital Library (image via Wikimedia Commons)

## Sources

- Eric Dluhosch & Rostislav Švácha (eds.), Karel Teige/1900–1951: L'Enfant Terrible of the Czech Modernist Avant-Garde (MIT Press, 1999)
- Wikipedia, 'Devětsil' and 'Karel Teige'
- Museum of Czech Literature, permanent exhibition entry 'Samá láska (Sheer Love)' (expozice.muzeumliteratury.cz)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Czech Poetist Book Design (Devětsil)”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/czech-poetism/