Lot 174

Ota Janeček (1919 - 1996) ABOUT THE JACKAL AND THE BRAINLESS DONKEY

Children’s literature occupies a distinct and central place in Janeček’s work, where he has managed to combine narrative progression with his characteristic humor. Janeček expresses the principle of personification—which lends human behavior to animal characters—through a dreamlike quality in which natural details intertwine with the cosmic whole of abstract color compositions. The author’s return to themes of grass and birds in the 1970s was largely influenced by his collaboration on illustrations for a children’s audience. Among his best-known works in this field are Slabikář and Živá abeceda, published for the 1976–1977 school year with a total print run of 420,000 copies. According to the author’s note, the original illustration offered here was part of the illustrations for Jan Vladislav’s Velký zvířecí epos (The Twelve Robinsons), published by Artia in 1972 in French, English, and German. The work comes from the author’s estate at his Prague studio at Bubenská 1376/39.