cultural sexism. By doing so, they embodied the role of the active protagonist, a role reserved traditionally for men. Toyen, along with women of the avant-garde movement such as Natalia Goncharova and Zinaida Gippius called these boundaries to light, then actively transcended them by adopting masculine attributes. The artist often addressed gender and sexuality in humorous and fantasy-erotic illustrations. Toyen has been theorized by Malynne Sternstein as "hypersexualized." The surrealists believed that humans are sexual beings, and many surrealists linked sexuality to artistic creativity. Some surrealists deemed sexuality to be central, with genitalia as the center of vitality. Toyen expressed interest in lesbian sexuality along with many other forms of sexual expression, but it is unknown what the artist's personal sexual activity actually included. Toyen's two major artistic partnerships were with men, but it is not known whether these included sexual contact. According to Huebner, it is best to see Toyen as queer and not attempt to categorize the artist's sexuality or gender. Toyen has been described as presenting in an "ambiguously gendered" manner due to alternately wearing skirts and more masculine-styled attire. Toyen's contemporaries reported Toyen as walking in an unfeminine way and asserting that they were attracted to women. Posthumous Recognition Asteroid (4691) Toyen is named in their honor. References Further reading External links Biography in Czech and English 1902 births 1980 deaths Artists from Prague Czech painters Czech artists Czech illustrators Czech printmakers Czech feminists Czechoslovak emigrants to France French printmakers Czech surrealist artists French surrealist artists Women surrealist artists Modern printmakers Czech LGBT artists 20th-century Czech painters French erotic artists 20th-century printmakers Burials at Batignolles Cemetery 20th-century LGBT people Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague alumni