Květa Pacovská

Place: Prague

Born: 1928

Death: 2023

Biography:

Květa Pacovská was a Czech illustrator and writer. She received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1992 for her 'lasting contribution to children's literature'. Pacovská was born in Prague and studied at its School of Applied Arts, where she mainly worked in graphic art, arts, conceptual art and artist book fields. For many years she developed a career as a graphic designer and participated in more than 50 exhibitions. In 1961, she started drawing picture books for her own children. Her work is characterized by the use of geometric forms and vibrant colors, mainly red. 'White and black are not included in the color spectrum but for me they are colors and mean maximum contrast. And maximum contrast is the maximum beauty. I am striving for maximum contrast. Red and green. The placing of colors one over the other. It depends on the relation, proportion, rhythm, size, amount and how we placed colors together. It is like music. Each individual tone is beautiful by itself and in certain groupings we create new dimensions, harmony, disharmony, symphonies, operas and books for children.' [1] The biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award conferred by the International Board on Books for Young People is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books. Pacovská received the illustration award in 1992.