Vítězslav Nezval

Vítězslav Nezval (1900-1958) was a poet, playwright, translator, and novelist. He was one of the most prolific Czech avant-garde writers in the first half of the twentieth century. He was a member of the Devětsil group, which urged artists to look deeper into ordinary objects for poetic quality. In 1923 he became a founding member of the Poetist Movement and an avid writer of manifestoes for what art could become. Later, after translating Breton’s Second Manifesto and meeting with the leading Surrealist in Paris, he founded the Czech Surrealist Movement.