Hana Stepanova II

More examples of the illustration of Hana Stepanova, 'Little Christmas Tale' of 1966. Unfortunately I have been able to find no information about this illustrator.

Hana Stepanova I

These are illustrations by Hana Stepanova from the mid 20th century, I can find  any information about her other than she was an illustrator and animator living in Prague. These illustrations feel oddly vintage and culturally different whilst having a very contemporary presence . I like the dramatic contrast in the quality of line, the bold solid areas juxtaposed against the block colours.

Filip Pošivač

'Up to his Ears in Moss' is the new book by Bára Valecká illustrated by artist filmmaker Filip Pošivač has the surreal characterisation of Tove Jansen's Moomins, but with a very contemporary style, splicing different mediums and textures together in busy chaos.

Luisa Cortesão

I work hard to blog here every day and to facilitate this I try to stick to a theme for a few days or a week to help with the flow and continuity of the page. However, I am interrupting this current theme of Czech illustration because I just watched an inspiring film from Portugal and at the end was bereft, as I found out Luisa Cortesão (1951-2016) the vibrant narrator and protagonist had passed away in January. So here is the film and some examples of this enigmatic ladies work.

Luisa had spent her life working in endocrinology retiring when she was 59. She was married to an art critic Alexandre Pomar the son of the painter Júlio Pomar and they had two daughters.

Anastasia Stročkova

Here are some examples of the work of Anastasia Stročkova from the book; 'The Elephant, Who Feared Heights', written by Robin King published by Beziliska. Anastasia's illustrations for this book are hand coloured lithographs and remind me of some of John Burningham's illustrations particularly 'Borka' because of the quality of the line.

Daniela Olejníková

 A book about the small creatures who share our living space by Jiří Dvořák and illustrated with a vibrant combination of digital and linocuts by Daniela Olejníková.

""Each of us has at home a small, but quite a large zoo . . .  flies, spiders, fruit flies ... Yes, sometimes fleas or lice. But in this zoo are missing labels. Which is a pity, because each of those small animals has its own story. So I thought to write it -." Jiří Dvořák

Alžběta Skálová I

A tiny tulip turbaned man, eating gherkins seems like the perfect way to start a new working week. These are the illustrations of  Alžběta Skálová a Czech artist whose books I discovered in Bologna. These are some tulip men from Rostlinois. 

"Strange Truths and Fables of the Green World
This book gives answers to all the curious children, who are not satisfied with simple explanation and often ask their parents: why? Why do ants live on the acacia, why does the nettle sting? Do flowers need to have roots in the ground? Which flower was the first in the world, who managed to cultivate the first tangerine without pits, and is it true that the most expensive coffee in the world is pooped out by the civet? It is also a book which can be used by teachers, when their pupils are bored in the Biology class: the nature is full of small adventures and exciting stories, riddles and unbelievable mysteries. It is also a family book: for little children there is a riddle or a rhyme, the bigger ones will read a story with a happy ending. And the adults? They will be surprised there were so many things they did not know."

100 Days

I have embarked on a '100daysofanimals' just for the challenge and to see who appears. Above is an unfeasibly large cat and below some ice skating elephants from the first week.

Radek Pilař I

As sometimes happens, I was researching something to show you this morning and I have ended up finding something else.
I have a great selection of Czech books that I will be sharing this week, but in attempting to find the illustrator of one of them I have stumbled upon  Czech illustrator Radek Pilař (1931-1993) who worked across the artistic disciplines of illustration, graphics, film and painting and produced some fantastic children's books. These illustrations are from "Rumutsuaisu" 1968, and are a combination of hand printing, collage and painting which I thought corresponded with the rubbings of Anna Kocmanová from yesterday.

Anna Kocmanová

" This book is for all who like play and discovering the world with a pencil and paper. Every little task frotážisty is search and find, collecting and chasing the contours and shapes of various objects around and create your own world."

I love this book 'Rukověť malého frotážisty', with illustrations made from rubbings by Anna Kocmanová and published by Baobab who was one of my favourites at Bologna this year. 

Jérémie Fischer

Jérémie Fischer assembled images from scraps of paper making clean graphic designs.

Tara Books in Edinburgh

On Monday night, I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Tara books at the Nomads Tent Edinburgh. I have seen them at Bologna several times and I have bought their books over the years and featured them here.
However I was unaware of the true story behind this incredibly successful small publisher and it was great to hear about the other projects that they are involved in.

I didn't realise that all of their books are hand printed and hand bound.

Or how they take the now vulnerable and transient traditions of tribal storytelling and art and fix it in book form like pressing flowers trying to capture this beauty, skill and storytelling. There are some wonderful videos here where you can learn more about Tara Books, their projects and artists.

(above) Gond art by Bhajju Shyam.

Christine Sin Kim

The convoluted path of research leads you to many wonders, I find this constantly in curating this blog but now also in my studies. I have been researching silent books or wordless books. books that communicate through pictures alone.
Strangely and I have no idea how, apart from that I was exploring different methods of communication, this meant that I found Christine Sin Kim last week. First this TED presentation:

Then this wonder of a film:

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Christine Sin Kim is an American artist who is seeking to expose and discover sound in new ways originally through drawings but now in performance works. Christine was born deaf and so has a completely different knowledge and experience of sound. Her work is a great insight into looking and experiencing fundamental realities in new ways.