Abstract
This chapter considers the Czech artist Jan Švankmajer and the six ‘drawer fetishes’ he created in 2014–2015. The drawer fetishes are positioned within the context of Švankmajer’s general tendency towards alchemical transmutation of everyday objects, and the chapter argues for a reading of them as magical objects with the double effect of changing the world and transforming life. Indicating a wealth of surrealist forms of magic and art magic still to be excavated by scholars, the chapter underscores the continued relevance of surrealism’s turn towards occultism and magic as alternative paths to rationalism and reason, and as vehicles of radical transformation, even as discourses of (post-)colonialism and modernist primitivism are brought into the analysis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Jan Švankmajer , ‘Drawer Fetishes’, unpublished text. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes are from this text.
- 2.
For an overview, see Maurer (1984).
- 3.
For the scholarly construct of Western esotericism, see Hanegraaff (2012).
- 4.
The authors do not elaborate on how Švankmajer became acquainted with these practices.
- 5.
For the surrealist reception of the tarot, see Breton (1994); for phonetic cabala, see ‘Fronton-Virage’ ( Breton, 1995); for analogy and correspondences in relation to poetry and film, respectively, see ‘Ascendant Sign’ and ‘As in a Wood’ ( Breton, 1995).
- 6.
See Mabille (1940). For an extended discussion of Mabille, the marvellous, and initiation, see Noheden (2014, 35–36).
- 7.
The most influential such study is Foster (1993).
- 8.
This chapter was first conceived as a paper at the symposium Blood Rituals—Past and Present in Stockholm in the spring of 2015. I thank the organizers Per Faxneld, Peter Jackson, and Paul Bouissac for inviting me and Gabor Bora for his incisive comments. I also thank Pavla Kallistova at Švankmajer’s production company Athanor for providing me with information about and photographs of the drawer fetishes.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Noheden, K. (2018). Magic Art Between the Primitive and the Occult: Animal Sacrifice in Jan Švankmajer’s Drawer Fetishes. In: Bauduin, T., Johnsson, H. (eds) The Occult in Modernist Art, Literature, and Cinema. Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76499-3_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76499-3_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76498-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76499-3
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)