Václav Kabát

* 1932

  • "When I took the state exam in 1956, I chose two topics. One was an illustration of some Hussite literature, perhaps Against All Odds; for this I made several dozen lithographs. The second topic was the arrival of the Red Army, because when they arrived then we were happy and relieved because there was a threat that the Germans might come and shoot. We were happy to welcome them. The absurd thing is that the state visit was in 1956, and twelve years later the tanks came a second time, but with a different [objective]. So even though twelve years before I had made a celebratory sheet for their arrival, now my colleagues and I were making up a satire on the arrival of the tanks."

  • "Albatros pulled me out of scraping by, when I was only occasionally [doing] something for magazines [or] for advertising., there was little art. But thanks to one of the editors inviting me there, I got in, settled in and expanded my activity, which lasted a very long time. Now the art editors have almost ceased to exist. It's all taken over by younger editors, but they're not art editors and they're more concerned with making it fast, making it not the most expensive, and I don't know what all... Sometimes you get the feeling that the quality of the illustrations is not that important to them. It used to be obvious when I used to go to Albatross - whoever I dealt with of the six art editors - that it was all about making it as good as possible. Whatever I chose the number, the color, the format [of the illustrations], whatever. I was very free to do that, as long as it was nicely finished. Now I hardly work for the publishing house anymore, but lately it's been noticeable that it's been run by people who can't do the art as well as in the old days."

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Praha, 10.03.2022

    (audio)
    duration: 02:38:29
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
  • 2

    Praha, 12.04.2022

    (audio)
    duration: 01:55:51
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
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Life with book illustration

Václav Kabát (late 50s?)
Václav Kabát (late 50s?)
photo: archive of a witness

Václav Kabát, born on 8 April 1932 in Prague, is a leading Czech book illustrator. He was a member of the Scouts since 1945 and for about two years after the communist coup he was still active in an unofficial scout troop. In 1947-1951 he attended the State Graphic School in Prague, then studied at the Academy of Fine Arts (1951-1956) in the studio of Vladimír Pukl. After his studies he worked as a freelance artist. At first he made a living with cartoons and applied graphics (making signs, diplomas and covers), later he established himself as a book illustrator. He worked with several publishing houses, but most of all with the children’s literature publishing house Albatros. Shortly after 21 August 1968, before the censorship began to fully function again, he drew several jokes against the invasion for the press. Because of the censorship, he did not have access to scarce equipment for artists, such as special furniture, for a long time during the normalisation. He continued to illustrate books even during the time of the filming, in 2022, and in previous years he had illustrated Tales from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia and The Fairy Tales of Božena Němcová.