Illustrations by Birutė Žilytė (Lithuania, 1970)
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These images come from Aldona Liobytė’s collection of tales, "Pasaka apie narsią Vilniaus mergaitę ir galvažudį Žaliabarzdį" (A Fairy Tale about the Brave Girl from Vilnius and Greenbeard the Killer). My copy isn't an actual book, but a portfolio of 2-page folded spreads (so it was easy to scan, and I may also frame all of them). I stitched some of them together but wanted to show most of them at the larger size.
The biography of the illustrator comes from Illustrarium, a project dedicated to Lithuania's participation as a guest of honor country at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2011:Born in the village of Nainiškiai in the Panevėžys district in 1930, she lives in Vilnius. She is the wife of Algirdas Steponavičius, the graphic artist and children’s book illustrator, and mother of Daina Steponavičiūtė, a graphic artist. She studied graphic art at the Lithuanian State Art Institute, graduating in 1956. She worked as an art teacher at the Vilnius M.K. Čiurlionis Art school from 1963 to 1987, and also made engravings. In 1964, together with Algirdas Steponavičius and Laimutis Ločeris, she painted murals for the Nykštukas children’s cafe in Vilnius. From 1969 to 1972, together with Steponavičius, she decorated the Pušelė children’s sanatorium in Valkininkai with murals. She made her first illustrations for children’s books in 1957; her own original style, combining elements of folk and pop art, evolved around 1964 (the illustrations to Mykolas Sluckis’ children’s book Nedėkingas ančiukas [The Ungrateful Duckling] and to the tales Užburtos birbynės [The Enchanted Pipes] by Sonė Tomarienė).
Žilytė has been considered an innovator since 1967, when the children’s book by the Latvian classic Janis Rainis Aukso sietelis (The Little Golden Sieve) with her illustrations was published. In 1969, she was awarded the Golden Apple for the book at the Bratislava Children’s Book Illustrations Biennial. In 1971, she won the gold medal at the Leipzig Book Fair for her illustrations to Pasaka apie narsią Vilniaus mergaitę ir galvažudį Žaliabarzdį (A Fairy Tale about the Brave Girl from Vilnius and Greenbeard the Killer) by the Lithuanian writer Aldona Liobytė. For this book and Pabėgusi dainelė (The Little Song that Ran Away) by Liobytė, which was published in 1966, she was awarded the State Prize of Soviet Lithuania. In 1976, her illustrations to Kostas Kubilinskas’ Stovi pasakų namelis (A Little Fairy-Tale House) earned her the Hans Christian Andersen Diploma of Honour at the IBBY 25th Congress. She has illustrated (on her own and together with Steponavičius) 14 books. In 2010, she held her first personal exhibition at the Lithuanian National Gallery.
[via Illustrarium]
I also plan to feature images from the catalog Illustrarium: Soviet Lithuanian Children’s Book Illustration. Laura at Animalarium turned me on to this book in 2011 though I'm just now getting to it (oof).
Also see this interview with the artist (in Lithuanian).
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Some more photographs of the original edition from 1970, taken by Mindaugas Ažušilis for Illustrarium:
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via Illustrarium![]()
via Illustrarium![]()
via Illustrarium![]()
via Illustrarium![]()
via Illustrarium![]()
via Illustrarium
From the catalog I mention above:
"This book was ambiguously received by children: some loved it, some hated it; but nobody could remain indifferent to it. It attracted much interest from artists, and Birute Zilyte was awarded the Gold Medal at the 1971 Leipzig Book Fair for it. It is related to traditions in Lithuanian folk art, but is also heavily influenced by the colors and shapes of Pop Art. The artist still likes to tell how she herself had to oversee the printing of the book, trying to persuade the printers to preserve the extraordinarily bright colors of the illustrations."
I don't think my scans do the colors justice. These works really have to be seen in person (sorry to rub it in).
The artist's biography and text from the catalog is by Dr. G. Jankevičiūtė, curator of the exhibition Illustrarium: Soviet Lithuanian Children's Book Illustration.
Thank you so much to Rūta for your help!
See all posts tagged "Lithuania"
These images come from Aldona Liobytė’s collection of tales, "Pasaka apie narsią Vilniaus mergaitę ir galvažudį Žaliabarzdį" (A Fairy Tale about the Brave Girl from Vilnius and Greenbeard the Killer). My copy isn't an actual book, but a portfolio of 2-page folded spreads (so it was easy to scan, and I may also frame all of them). I stitched some of them together but wanted to show most of them at the larger size.
The biography of the illustrator comes from Illustrarium, a project dedicated to Lithuania's participation as a guest of honor country at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2011:Born in the village of Nainiškiai in the Panevėžys district in 1930, she lives in Vilnius. She is the wife of Algirdas Steponavičius, the graphic artist and children’s book illustrator, and mother of Daina Steponavičiūtė, a graphic artist. She studied graphic art at the Lithuanian State Art Institute, graduating in 1956. She worked as an art teacher at the Vilnius M.K. Čiurlionis Art school from 1963 to 1987, and also made engravings. In 1964, together with Algirdas Steponavičius and Laimutis Ločeris, she painted murals for the Nykštukas children’s cafe in Vilnius. From 1969 to 1972, together with Steponavičius, she decorated the Pušelė children’s sanatorium in Valkininkai with murals. She made her first illustrations for children’s books in 1957; her own original style, combining elements of folk and pop art, evolved around 1964 (the illustrations to Mykolas Sluckis’ children’s book Nedėkingas ančiukas [The Ungrateful Duckling] and to the tales Užburtos birbynės [The Enchanted Pipes] by Sonė Tomarienė).
Žilytė has been considered an innovator since 1967, when the children’s book by the Latvian classic Janis Rainis Aukso sietelis (The Little Golden Sieve) with her illustrations was published. In 1969, she was awarded the Golden Apple for the book at the Bratislava Children’s Book Illustrations Biennial. In 1971, she won the gold medal at the Leipzig Book Fair for her illustrations to Pasaka apie narsią Vilniaus mergaitę ir galvažudį Žaliabarzdį (A Fairy Tale about the Brave Girl from Vilnius and Greenbeard the Killer) by the Lithuanian writer Aldona Liobytė. For this book and Pabėgusi dainelė (The Little Song that Ran Away) by Liobytė, which was published in 1966, she was awarded the State Prize of Soviet Lithuania. In 1976, her illustrations to Kostas Kubilinskas’ Stovi pasakų namelis (A Little Fairy-Tale House) earned her the Hans Christian Andersen Diploma of Honour at the IBBY 25th Congress. She has illustrated (on her own and together with Steponavičius) 14 books. In 2010, she held her first personal exhibition at the Lithuanian National Gallery.
[via Illustrarium]
I also plan to feature images from the catalog Illustrarium: Soviet Lithuanian Children’s Book Illustration. Laura at Animalarium turned me on to this book in 2011 though I'm just now getting to it (oof).
Also see this interview with the artist (in Lithuanian).
Some more photographs of the original edition from 1970, taken by Mindaugas Ažušilis for Illustrarium:
via Illustrarium
via Illustrarium
via Illustrarium
via Illustrarium
via Illustrarium
via Illustrarium
From the catalog I mention above:
"This book was ambiguously received by children: some loved it, some hated it; but nobody could remain indifferent to it. It attracted much interest from artists, and Birute Zilyte was awarded the Gold Medal at the 1971 Leipzig Book Fair for it. It is related to traditions in Lithuanian folk art, but is also heavily influenced by the colors and shapes of Pop Art. The artist still likes to tell how she herself had to oversee the printing of the book, trying to persuade the printers to preserve the extraordinarily bright colors of the illustrations."
I don't think my scans do the colors justice. These works really have to be seen in person (sorry to rub it in).
The artist's biography and text from the catalog is by Dr. G. Jankevičiūtė, curator of the exhibition Illustrarium: Soviet Lithuanian Children's Book Illustration.
Thank you so much to Rūta for your help!
See all posts tagged "Lithuania"