Prague, Sept 6 (CTK) – Some 80 cartoons of former Czech president, dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel (1936-2011) by authors from the whole world are presented at the exhibition entitled The World Draws Havel that was opened in Prague’s Malostranska beseda gallery on Tuesday.
The authors sent 130 drawings of which the 80 best were selected, none of which was more than two years old, Radovan Rakus, chairman of the Czech Cartoonists’ Union, told CTK.
Some 50 of the exhibited cartoons are made by Czech authors.
Most of the drawings focus on Havel’s political career, some of them rather comment on his theatre activities.
Recurrent motives are a glass of beer, Havel’s favourite symbol of heart that he added to his signature and the Victory symbol of two lifted fingers evoking the Velvet Revolution in November 1989, which toppled the communist regime.
“Vaclav Havel would turn 80 years this autumn and the exhibition pays homage to the man who is deservedly the most famous Czech in the world… the man who has considerably contributed to the transformation of the country from totalitarianism to a democratic society,” the organisers said.
The Cartoonists’ Union received drawings from 30 countries, mostly European, but also from South America, China and the United States, Rakus said.
The cartoons of Havel sent to the exhibition are also available online.
Havel was the last Czechoslovak and the first Czech president (1989-2003). After he left the post, he primarily focused on the promotion of human rights in the world. He died on December 18, 2011, aged 75 years.
