Book Review: Miroslav Šašek (The Illustrators)

Miroslav Sasek (1916 - 1980) is a Czech artist best known for his This is series of children books that feature cities and countries. This is series started in 1959 with Paris and did well commercially which led to 17 more books later.

This 112-page hardcover book is authored by Martin Salisbury with Quentin Blake as consultant, This book is published by Thames and Hudson.

This book covers the life and career of Miroslav Sasek, starting from his childhood, 1930s and wartime and after the war. You'll get to read about his family, the various jobs he took as he traveled around, the success of the This is series, how his reputation grew, and his personal works e.g. oil on canvas. The stories about his life is interesting and you can tell he's an artist who can adapt due to the circumstances and world that's always changing around him. Reading stories of his background will probably provide more appreciation for the work he has created over the years.

His artworks are beautiful and has a timeless quality to them. There's this mix of caricature, graphic design and stylised look. His travel illustrations welcome his readers to other cities and countries, introduces different culture and life of people who live thousands of miles away and across different continents. These artworks took months of travel to complete and they definitely brings across this sense of wanderlust.

This is a wonderful book.

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