Štěpán Zavřel


Štěpán Zavřel was a Czech painter, fresco creator, graphic artist, writer and one of the most influential man in the field of the children's book illustration in the 20th century.
He lived and studied in Czechoslovakia until 1959, then he emigrated to Italy. There he studied at Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma. Afterwards he traveled through whole Europe, during this time he arranged exhibitions of his own works. In 1968 he finally settled in Rugolo, small village in the region Veneto in Italy, where he lived until his death in 1999. In 1971, he co-founded the Zurich-based publishing house Bohem Press with Otakar Božejovský. Štěpán Zavřel founded there The International School of Illustration which exists till now.

Legacy

In 2009, on the tenth anniversary of his death, a collection of accounts by those who knew him was published in the Czech Republic.
In September 2011, the Museo Artistico Štěpán Zavřel of Spazio Brazzà was established dedicated to his life and works.
Wanted by Štěpán's friend Corrado Pirzio-Biroli, with the approval of Zavřel's family, the museum researches on the production of the artist and catalogues his works, including the ones donated by private persons. It also contains the heredity of the family of the artist, that is more than 3.000 originals among them unpublished xylographs from the beginning of 60's, studies, pictures and films for animation cinema, advertising graphics, sketches, storyboards and original figures of all his illustrated books for children from The Magic Fish of 1964, carried out in Brazzà Castle, to his last great work, the Bible for adults and children, Mit Gott unterwegs, Die Bibel für Kinder und Erwachsene neu erzählt of 1996
The 'Centro Internazionale di Studi per la Cultura dell'Infanzia Štěpán Zavřel' of Spazio Brazzà creates and promotes cultural projects at the local level, in collaboration with other international organizations and institutions with particular attention to the picture book and the different forms of art directed to the child. The Centre in addition to doing research on the artist, in fact, promotes the planning of museum activities as a result of proposals arising from field research, in collaboration with experts in the field; among other projects the one of republishing or editing from scratch in collaboration with the historic Bohem Press publishing house founded by Štěpán Zavřel in the seventies, winning many awards and international recognitions for the environmental and the beauty of the images shown, guiding and supporting them with special projects especially aimed at schools. In 2013, the theatre performance 'Venice: Town of Hope', from Zavrel's book 'Sotto la laguna di Venezia' has been held at the prestigious Ivan's Franko National Drama Theatre in Kiev, a collaboration between the Centro Internazionale di Studi per la Cultura dell'Infanzia Štěpán Zavřel' of Spazio Brazzà, the Structural Subdivision of the German - Polish - Ukrainian Society and The Centre for Children in Need 'Our Kids' in Kiev.

Works

Illustrations