Gabriela Dubska II

 

'Kociciny kocourka Damiana' written by Václav Čtvrtek, published in 1971. Agaiin with very strange and compelling illustrations by Gabriela Dubska.

Gabriela Dubska I

 

Oh! I just love the strange illustrations in this book, 'Kdo je nejsilnejsi?' by Gabriela Dubska (1915-2003)  published in 1967. The spangle eyed whale is just a delight as is the anthropomorphised iceberg. 

Marta Koci I

Marta Koci's book 'P. Tinybit' published in 1973, has wonderful wet watercolour illustrations of a Japanese story about a berry beetle. Marta was born in Olmott, in the Czech Republic in 1945.

Marta studied painting at the Uherske Hrad, School of Art and Art and moved to Austria in 1964. After working as a graphic designer in Vienna, she became fascinated by the world of picture books and published her first picture book in 1971. 

Alois Mikulka III

Alois Mikulka's book about a sad tiger 'O smutném tygrovi' originally published in 1968 has been republished by BAOBAB Publishers. What a joy of a book, Alois's trees are a special delight. 

Alois is to be 86 in August,, between 1948-52 he studied at the College of Applied Arts in Brno and later he studied monumental painting in the studio of Ján Želibský at the University of Fine Arts in Bratislava. He has exhibited worldwide and has been involved in children's theatre and literature all his life.

Jiří Šindler II

Jiří Šindler (1922- 2015) was born in Polička, He studied at the School of Applied Arts of Antonín Strnadela and spent his holidays at the print studios of the Vokolka Brothers in Pardubic. Jiří worked most of his life as a teacher and had a passion for typography and calligraphy. Much of his artwork is in the form of woodcuts and prints. In this 1963 book was called 'Když Zvìràtka Ještê Mluvila' written by Ivan Franko Jiří's illustrations are painted to look like prints.

Jiří Šindler I

This print by Jiří Šindler (1922-2015) is like a summer moon.

Seydl Zdenek

Seydl Zdenek's (1916-1978) lively illustrations and typography for 'Kouzelny Slabikar' an alphabet picture book written by Jan Vladislav published in 1961.

Josef Novák

It is odd to see 'Winnie the Poo' illustrated by anyone other than E.H.Shepard. This Czech version was illustrated by Josef Novák (1902-1987) was published in 1960. I adore the end papers.

Jolanta Lysková

Illustrations from 'Jak Husa Malovala' a book of verse written by Jana Moravcova  in 1969. Illustrated by Jolanta Lysková in a fantastic, bold graphic woodcut style referencing folk art traditions of Eastern Europe but blending these with fabulous mid twentieth century design. Jolanta was born in 1939 and studied at Prague University of Applied Arts from 1959-1965. She has illustrated for children and adults, and worked for magazines; Sluníčko and Mateřídoušek.

Daisy Mrázková II

Daisy Mrázková's 'Haló, Jácíčku' published in 1972 has wonderful pools of nature illustrations.

Daisy Mrázková I

Daisy Mrázková (1923-2016) lived in Prague and was an artist and printmaker married to the painter Jiří Mrázk, they had three children together a daughter and two sons.  Daisy was a member of the Czech artists´ forum Umělecká Beseda with its independent U12 group. Her work is bold and abstract, reminiscent of wild landscapes often using monotypes as a basis.

In the 1950's Daisy turned her attention to creating children's books, where she created imaginary worlds of kindness and cooperation between people, animals and toys. Her children's books were mainly published in Japan. These images are from the book Neplač, muchomůrko published in 1969