Svatava Urbanová
University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
Translation from Czech by Katerina Tomova
Published in Slavyanski dialozi, XVIII, 2021, 28, 59-76 [In Bulgarian]
Abstract: The article is devoted to Seifert’s attitude to the fine arts; it deals with his personal contacts with artists and sculptors, as well as poetic reflections and inspiration, which we find in the memoir All the Beauties of the World (Všecky krásy světa). The article pays special attention to artists close to Seifert’s nature, especially Jan Zarzavý, Toyen, and Josef Sudek. In the collection of poems The Painter Walks Poor into the World (Šel malíř chudě do světa) the author was inspired by the small graphics of Mikuláš Aleš, and in The Boy and the Stars (Chlapec a hvězdy) by the famous paintings of Josef Lada. Thus, along with the rhyming story about the apple tree Rolling, Rolling (Koulelo se, koulelo) (illustrations by B. Veyrychová-Solarová), the author creates three children’s books about the natural cycles. Mother (Maminka) has become the most edited and illustrated collection of poems since the early 1950s. The impressive illustrations included in the book were created by Jiří Trnka, Ludmila Jiřincová, while the latest ones – by Jana Kiselová-Siteková.
Key words: Jaroslav Seifert, fine arts, works of art based on already existing illustrations, illustrative accompaniment