Group 42

For the artificial intelligence and cloud computing company, see Group 42 (Emirati company).

Group 42 (Czech: Skupina 42) was a Czech artistic group officially established on November 27, 1942 (though its roots date to 1938–1939, forming in 1940). The group's activity ceased in 1948 (banned by the government at the time), but its influence on Czech literature and Czech art was still evident in further years.

This group was primarily influenced by civilism, cubism, futurism, constructivism, existentialism, and surrealism, and their work revealed a characteristic fascination with technology, evident in their frequent focus on cities, factories, industry, and machines. The human characters are generally common townspeople.

The article The World We Live In (Czech Svět, v němž žijeme) by Jindřich Chalupecký provided Group 42's primary theoretical foundation.

Members

Poets

• Ivan Blatný
• Jan Hanč
• Jiřina Hauková
• Josef Kainar
• Jiří Kolář (also a visual artist)

Painters

• František Gross
• František Hudeček
• Jan Kotík
• Kamil Lhoták
• Bohumír Matal
• Jan Smetana
• Karel Souček

Carver

• Ladislav Zívr

Photographer

• Miroslav Hák

Theoreticians

• Jindřich Chalupecký
• Jiří Kotalík

References

• Eva Petrová (ed.) and collective: Skupina 42, Akropolis, Praha 1998, ISBN 80-85770-67-9 (in Czech)
• Zdeněk Pešat, Eva Petrová (ed.): Skupina 42, Atlantis, Brno 2000, ISBN 9788071082095 (in Czech)
• Izabela Mroczek: Dom, ulica, miasto w poezji czeskiej Grupy 42, Śląsk, Katowice-Warszawa, 2005 (Polish)
• Leszek Engelking: Codzienność i mit. Poetyka, programy i historia Grupy 42 w kontekstach dwudziestowiecznej awangardy i postawangardy, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2005, ISBN 83-7171-826-8 (Polish)

External links

• Legendární Skupina 42, (Josef Fronc), Zpravodaj 2/2005 (in Czech)