No description available.

Children's book publishing was a part of the state-controlled system after 1945 and several movements can be recognised within it. The development and illustration requirements, changing during the 1950s and 1960s, can be mostly inferred from contemporary literature by writers Stehlíková and Holešovský, the Zlatý máj magazine or submissions to the 1972 Brno symposium exploring the relationship between literary text and its visual art interpretation. After outlining the principal relationships, this work focuses on a more detailed exploration of the illustrations by Mirko Hanák, whose work originated during the 1950s and 1960s before being terminated by a premature death in 1971. Hanák freed himself of the compulsory realism during the 1950s and chose a path towards symbolism, which helped him achieve a respected creative status in the 1960s. Hanák's talents chiefly manifested themselves in his wildlife illustrations for adventure books, where he employed the watercolour technique. He took inspiration from Chinese ink painting, with which he became familiarised thanks to the many exhibitions taking place in the context of the contemporary cultural exchange between Czechoslovakia and the People's Republic of China. Both working with the originals of Hanák's illustrations and a comparison between individual...