Collection of illustrations by Otakar Božejovský

Like a fairy tale. But this time, for real.

You’ve heard the fairy tales – a young hero or heroine quietly sets out into the world with little or no fanfare. No one believes in them at first, but in the end, they are the ones who defeat the dragon, the sorcerer, or some other monster. Stories have a great influence on our perception of the world – much greater than we admit. But classic fairy tales too often have one fundamental flaw: it all somehow happens by itself! The hero tends to be a passive player who relies on chance or the intervention of a higher power.

Of course there are other stories, and sometimes miracles do happen in real life. But in the real world, being passive gets you nowhere. If you want to accomplish something, you need healthy self-confidence and to surround yourself with the right people. If we had been passive, you wouldn’t be standing here right now. There would be no successful Bohem Press publishing house, no unique collection of children’s illustrations, and no Palace of Illustration.

Long story short – it all began in August 1968, when Otakar Bożejovský von Rawennoff decided to emigrate. He couldn’t stand it in Czechoslovakia anymore. With his class background, the only job he could get was working in the mines. He ended up in Switzerland, washing dishes or train cars during the day, then working as a bartender and pianist in the evenings. It was hard, but it was much better than staying in occupied Czechoslovakia.

In 1971, through mutual acquaintances, Otakar met another exile, Štěpán Zavřel, by then a renowned illustrator who had once studied under Jiří Trnka. They hit it off and gradually became best friends. Otakar confided in Štěpán about his dream of becoming an art dealer. Štěpán listened to him and persuaded him to start a children’s publishing house together. It would be art, he said, it’d be fun, they’d enjoy it. Štěpán would take care of the creative side and Otakar would take care of the business. There was only one catch – according to Štěpán, you couldn’t make money publishing books. Otakar wanted to prove him otherwise, and he turned out to be right.

Bohem Press was ultimately founded in 1973. A few years later, Susanne Zeller joined the founding duo, taking charge of international sales and licensing. When Otakar sold the publishing house after 34 years, there was a lot to look back on. Millions of copies sold, translations into 67 languages, 10 major awards at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and a long list of illustrators who made their international breakthrough thanks to their collaboration with Bohem Press. A fairy tale come true? Well, partly so. The publishing house’s success was mainly due to an exceptional combination of talent, perseverance, and courage – the courage to do things differently and to address topics that no one else in the industry dared to touch, such as environmental issues, drug addiction, and coping with a death in the family.

The illustrations for Bohem Press form the basis of the collection that Otakar has been building since the 1970s. It consists of almost 800 illustrations by dozens of artists from all over Europe and includes the biggest names in children’s illustration, such as Józef Wilkoń, David McKee, Jan Lenica, Dušan Kállay, and Stasys Eidrigevičius. If you haven’t heard of any of them yet, we’re just a bit jealous, because today is the day you’ll discover something truly exceptional. The collection has been seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors in Madrid, traveled for many years under the patronage of Empress Michiko to museums in Japan, was on display at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and even at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it was shown immediately after an exhibition of works from the Vatican collections and before Rembrandt. Now, in his old age, Otakar has brought the collection back to his homeland like a trophy. It has found its home here, in the Palace of Illustration, which is an immense honor and commitment for us. We have now undertaken to retell this extraordinary story, to introduce you to the world of children’s illustration, and to encourage you to surround yourself with beautiful things. But most of all, we want you to fight passivity with all your might and surround yourself with the right people. Then any dragon becomes easy to defeat.

Curator

Ivo Janoušek,
Curator and director of the Palace of illustrations