Books á la Šalamoun

Book illustrators Eva Natus-Šalamounová (1934–2014) and her husband Jiří Šalamoun (1935–2022), who is known to the Czech public as the author of the artwork of the legendary Maxips Fík, are connected not only by the focus of their work, but also by two countries – the Czech Republic and Germany. The selection of works presented in the exhibition deliberately shows both artists' approaches to working on books published in the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century, both in Czechoslovak and Czech publishing houses and in German publishing houses, for which both authors also worked. In the exhibition you will be able to compare whether and how both artists influenced each other in their work.

The exhibition is spread over two time periods with exhibits changing during the summer months. In the first half of its duration, one can see, for example, Jiří Šalamoun's original illustrations for the popular book The Hobbit or The Voyage There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien, including illustrations that have never been published, or humorously morbid black and white drawings for Songs by J. J. Ryba. Eva Natus-Šalamoun's work includes illustrations for two different editions of Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers. In the course of the summer, the exhibition will be enlivened by Jiří Šalamoun's ironic and still valid drawings for M. J. Saltykov-Shchedrin's History of the Town of Hloupětín or M. Argilli's comic illustrations for his book Ten Cities. Among the works of Eva Natus-Šalamounová, it will be possible to see, for example, her ink drawings for K. I. Čukovský's Doctor Bolíto or large-format, oil pastel drawings on lithographic background from the beginning of the millennium.

In the exhibition, which presents books and illustrations from the collections of the National Museum and from a private family collection, it is also possible to leaf through some of the many illustrated books and view other works in digital form, as well as work tools, personal objects and examples from the collecting loves of both authors, who are among the most important Czech illustrators of the 20th century.