Polish Book Illustrations

Polish Children Illustration Artists

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Animals of Janusz Grabiański

Born in 1929, a contemporary and uni classmate of Bohdan Butenko.

His illustrations were bought by publishers all over the world, for their watercolour grace, the graceful animals, whimsical children and wonderful colours.

Puss in Boots:

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils:

He also designed post stamps, and he definitely loved cats:

(there is also a dog set)

This lovely book cover is so TYPICAL for his style:

(anyone has this book?)

At the same time, he designed visual identification and promotional material for LOT Polish Airlines.

So, not only animals.

Well...

His style is very distinctive and has impacted many, many children, shaping their imagination and filling dreams with wispy, fluffy kittens.

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Butenko Pinxit

Bohdan Butenko, signing his pictures "Butenko Pinxit", made many children think THIS was his name.

Considering his illustrations were everywhere, from early reading magazine "Świerszczyk" to poem books to collage comic strips, he definitely left an impression on Polish children of a certain era.

His drawings may seem simplistic...

But he was a master of humor. Here is his "Self-portrait":

(the arrow says "This one, thirtieth from the left")

However what most probably remember the best are his combinations of text and pictures. Entire pages of hand-transcribed poems of Jan Brzechwa, with relevant pictures added:

(poem about a snail, obviously :))

He was a student of Jan Marcin Szancer (see here) but has created a style entirely of his own. Even though they have covered the same authors - Szancer has also illustrated some of Brzechwa's poems.

In fact, a child's bookcase can be considered lacking if it doesn't contain one of each.

He also designed entire books, with their unusual layout and typography playing into the storytelling:

(Ciril, Where Are You?, Wiktor Woroszylski)

And then there was the Dong who had a luminous nose, and Jumblies and other creatures by Mr Lear.

The cover:

Some Jumblies in their sieve:

(you can read the part of the poem over their heads)

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Zbigniew Rychlicki

The One Who Drew The Entire Oz Cycle for Polish translation. This is our Dorothy :)

Dorothy, the Lion and the Tiger:

Dorothy, Zeb and Eureka (vol 4):

He also illustrated a number of folk tales and fairy tales books:

And early reader books (in the series "Read to me, mommy" (Poczytaj mi mamo)):

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Jan Marcin Szancer

The absolute master of book illustration. They tell a story, but are not overflowing with ornaments, just so.

For Polish children, his illustrations for Pinocchio built a stronger picture of the wooden puppet than what Disney delivered.

Pan Kleks (Mr Blot) was himself only because of Szancer:

His Cinderella...

...and his Snow Queen:

He built the aesthetics generations of Polish children were brought up on. If there is a choice to buy a book with his drawings and any other artist, Szancer should always be picked.