The Life and Art of Vojtech Kubasta (1914-1992)

by Ellen G.K. Rubin

(from the catalog of the exhibition, Pop-ups, Illustrated Books, and Graphic Designs of Czech Artist and Paper Engineer, Vojtech Kubasta (1914-1992), held at the Bienes Center for Literary Arts, Broward County Main Library, Ft. Lauderdale, FL Jan 25-April 30, 2005) with apologies for the lack of proper Czech accent marks.

Vojtech Kubasta c1979

Vojtech Kubasta, Czech children’s illustrator, paper engineer, and author, was one of the twentieth century’s most imaginative and remarkable artists. He combined a knowledge of Czech folk art, puppetry, architecture, and the graphic arts to create playful universes of wonder and magic that awed and amazed both children and adults. He was not widely recognized during his lifetime, nevertheless he created over three hundred titles that were published on every continent, translated into more than thirty-seven languages, and sold over 10 million copies. He left an enduring legacy of pop-up and illustrated books that will forever enchant readers.

Early Years
Vojtech Robert Vladimír Kubasta was born in Vienna, Austria, October 7, 1914, and raised in Prague, Czechoslovakia, by his Viennese mother, Adéla, and his Southern Bohemian father, Vojtech. When he was four years old, he was already filling sketchpads with figures of birds, boats, and dragons. As a young man, he knew that he wanted to be an artist but his more pragmatic father, a bank manager, hoped he would become a lawyer. Architecture had a greater appeal to the young Kubasta, however, since he already knew “he had to do something with his hands.” 1

In 1933, he enrolled in the Czech Polytechnic University in Prague, (Ceské vysoké ucení technické v Praze), in a class of about ninety. He was tall, handsome, and personable and quickly made friends with his fellow students. Soon thereafter, he became a part of a dynamic foursome of students who called themselves, the Quadrifoliacs, after a type of four-leaf clover. Robert Jecny , Cudla (Rudolph) Ünger, Jan Hird Pokorny, and Kubasta were inseparable and worked on many major projects while they were students and after graduating from the Polytechnic. Kubasta toyed with designing a logo for the group, a four leaf clover or the number four over a castle. Professors described them as hard-working students “who always did more than they were asked.”2 If a professor engaged one of them to work as an assistant, invariably the other Quadrifoliacs became involved as well.

As students, the Quadrifoliacs collectively worked on a competition for a corner housing/commercial complex across from the Polytechnic that won second prize. Each team member had individual strengths that contributed to the success of their projects: Jecny was known for his organizational abilities; Ünger supplied technical expertise and supervised the design and drawings with Pokorny; and Kubasta, was put in charge of the final presentation sketches. Pokorny commented, “he, Kubasta, was an artist who studied architecture. “3 The foursome also collaborated on a school project in which they had to measure a specific architectural detail from the Clam-Gallas Palace in Prague. They chose the Grand Staircase, considered one of the most beautiful in Czechoslovakia. Kubasta’s final drawings showed his flare for great dramatic effect.

In spite of their student status, the Quadrifoliacs were able to find commercial work. This was due largely in part to Jan Pokorny’s father, the Deputy General Manager of Skoda Works, a major manufacturer of steam locomotives, turbines, machine tools, and military arsenal. For example, they were awarded commissions to prepare drawings and renderings for the Prague subway and various other Skoda construction projects. At first, they worked in Porkorny Sr.’s study, sleeping under the tables during charettes. Later they moved to an apartment off campus that doubled as an office. They always worked together “for [the] amusement and money.”4

While at the Polytechnic, Pokorny’s family also commissioned the Quadrifoliacs to create personal objects. For example, the four were asked to collectively design a set of wine goblets for a wedding anniversary present. The enterprising young men hired a blacksmith to make the goblets of pewter because silver was either unattainable or unaffordable. Kubasta provided the whimsical decoration of a monkey holding a wine-tasting pipette. For the Pokorny country house, Vojtech and Jan worked together to design the furniture. Kubasta alone crafted a stained glass window and statues of a sprite for the pond in the garden and one of St. Christopher for the porch. Today the house is occupied by the former deputy prime minister of the Czech Republic. The sprite and St. Christopher statues remain standing in their original places but the window has mysteriously disappeared.

Jan Hird Pokorny, who is ninety years old and Professor Emeritus at Columbia University’s School of Architecture, recalled that Kubasta was “enormously skillful…[especially] with illustration”, and the group “leaned heavily on his skill.” He also described his old friend as “[having been] born with a pencil in his hand”. “He was always drawing” and “could work so fast.”5

It may have been Pokorny who introduced Kubasta to one of his life-long pleasures: hiking. On one occasion, Pokorny planned an excursion for the Quadrifoliacs into the Alps through Innsbruck. Arriving at a lodge in bad weather, they found it shuttered and closed. In desperation, they banged on the door and summoned the innkeeper who hosted the group while they amused themselves with games of wit during four days of foul weather.6 Even though Kubasta never thought of himself as athletic; he frequently found solace in hiking. His sketchpad drawings reflected a deep appreciation for nature and his finely rendered images of flowers, mountains, and animals became the basis for many later illustrated works.

During his school years, Kubasta tried working in various art media including clay, metal, and etchings. In an early work, he experimented with oils and painted a portrait of a beautiful Cinderella-like blond maiden sewing a delicate garment. Dagmar, his daughter, believes the image is most likely of his mother who is known to have worked in her own mother’s fine linen and lingerie shop in Vienna. Kubasta especially enjoyed a school assignment documenting disappearing homesteads in various regions of Czechoslovakia. In one such drawing he chose the area of Southern Bohemia and captured the folk architecture of Hluboká nad Vltavou, the small town of his ancestors. Even as a student, Kubasta created illustrations of Prague buildings for several of his professors' publications.

Kubasta’s signature changed as he progressed from young artist to college student to professional artisan. At the Polytechnic, his signature alternated between a KU sitting above the image of a castle’s turret (pronounced ‘bashta’ in Czech) and the simple abbreviation, VK, known to collectors today. Finally, he arrived at his recognizable script-like signature, V. Kubasta, seen on almost all of his well-known illustrations.

After graduating from the Polytechnic in 1938, the Quadrifoliacs garnered their largest architectural project. As a result of the Munich Agreement of 1938, Czechoslovakia ceded major regions to Germany, Poland, and Hungary. Pokorny Sr., sensing the rapidly changing political climate, felt the need to invest in tangible assets. He purchased property in the village of Tri Studne, located between Moravia and Bohemia and commissioned the recent graduates to create a small chalet-type hotel. The industrious foursome collectively designed the Hotel Sykovec, but Kubasta alone was responsible for the design of the iron entry gates, a mosaic of St. Christopher (with the KU logo over a castle signature), a fresco of a folk-costumed girl on the stairway, and a stained glass window in the dining room. He also contributed to the design of some of the furniture. On the entry wall outside the hotel is another image of the costumed girl and a statue of St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers, similar to the one at Pokorny’s home.