Pacovská Květa *1928

Untitled

mixed media, handmade paper, frame, 97 × 63 cm, signed in pencil in the lower centre by Pacovská
Květa Pacovská, important Czech painter, sculptor, illustrator, graphic artist, typographer and teacher, studied at the beginning of the 1950s Monumental painting under the guidance of Emil Filla at the Academy of Arts and Crafts School in Prague. From 1952 she worked as an illustrator, mainly children's books and magazines, and gained an international reputation in this field. for her unique experimental approach to the medium of authorial books. Her work is infused with a playful approach to typography and drawing in which combining abstract collage-like elements with anthropomorphic or animal shapes set in a world of fantasy, puns and Dadaist transformations. With her work, Pacovská has moved illustration and the artist's book into the field of free artistic expression. For her illustrations Pacovská has received a number of the most important international awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award (1992), the the most beautiful book in the world (Goldene Letter, 1993), and the Honorary Doctorate awarded by the University of Kingston, UK (1999). In the 1990s Pacovská taught at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin and at Kingston University in the UK. Experimental books by Květa Pacovská have been published in many languages throughout the around the world. In 2016, the Prague City Gallery hosted a retrospective exhibition of her work.