Prague, July 20 (CTK) – Czech artist Karel Franta, the author of illustrations of books for children and winner of a number of international awards, died at the age of 89 on Wednesday, poet Frantisek Novotny, who published three collections of poems with him, told CTK today.
“This artist gave the strength of his talent in the services of the most grateful, but at the same most uncompromising public – the child reader and viewer,” Culture Minister Daniel Herman said last December when he presented Franta with the Artis Bohemiae Amicis award for spreading the good name of Czech culture at home and abroad.
Herman also said Franta cultivated children’s artistic taste and never kowtowed to it.
Frata illustrated more than 100 books for children, mainly by Czech authors, and also the production of foreign, particularly German-language publishers.
He also illustrated the French edition of Aesop and La Fontaine’s Fables.
Franta participated in the creation of several animated films and he designed postage stamps.
The international prizes awarded to him include Grand Prix UNICEF for the best illustration in 1986.
In 1994, he was entered in the Honour List of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).
