Kája Saudek

After many years of relative obscurity, this illustrated monograph by Helena Diesingová and Tomáš Prokůpek finally pays due respect to the king of the Czech comic genre Kája Saudek. Saudek was, however, not only an author of daring comic books but also a skilled commercial graphic designer and artistic maverick moving successfully between film, applied graphic arts, illustrations and freestyle arts. In the artist’s primary works, created mostly in the sixties, the atmosphere of the period mingles with an impressive artistic style, unique even in a worldwide context. The book presents a number of totally unknown and so far unpublished works from Saudek and presents him as an original portrait artist of many famous personalities from the cultural scene, especially in the field of music. This extensive publication opens with a detailed introduction (entitled Searching and Maturing) followed by sections entitled Film and Television, Comic Books and Drawings, Commercial Graphic Design and Applied Arts, Erotic Drawings  and a chapter about Saudek’s freestyle art works (Paintings, Objects and Decorations). The conclusion (Followers, Disciples and Epigones) is dedicated to the strong influence of this painter on his younger contemporaries and generations. Supplemented with nearly 900 hundred coloured reproductions it is aimed both at die-hard fans of Kája Saudek and top-quality comic books as well as the wider general public.

Graphic design: Štěpán Malovec

Currently unavailable and is not planned for reprint