Jiří Trnka

Jiří Trnka was one of those exceptional artists who, thanks to their all-round talent, not only significantly influenced a number of fields, but were able to successfully combine them in their work. Although his artistic range was considerably wider, his work in the field of illustration and animated film was crucial. At the time of the war, he already participated in the creation of a new type of illustration, which fully developed in the 1950s and 1960s. After the war, he became one of the founders of the Czech school of animation and thus created a counterpoint to the then dominant Disney approach.

He used various techniques and approaches with overlaps into other fields of art. In illustration he used pen-and-ink drawing, pastel, watercolour, gouache, tempera, collage, scraping and combined techniques, within which he gradually moved from drawing to painting with emphasis on colour. He also used different approaches in composition and was innovative in introducing spatial elements into book design.

As an animator, he worked with cartoon, paper, hand puppet and especially puppet film techniques, where he applied many years of experience with puppet theater. With the film Špalíček (The Czech Year), which reflects folk traditions, he proved that even in this medium artistically challenging images can be created using the specifics of montage, camera work and editing. By connecting all its components, from the artistic stylization of the puppets to the decorations and musical components, he created a stylistically and compositionally unified film that, with some exceptions, did not need any spoken word.

The importance of Jiří Trnka's work is confirmed by about fifty important awards: he was the first Czech artist to receive the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award for lifetime achievement in illustration (1968), he received the Gold Medal at the IFF in Bergamo – an award for a creator who contributed to the development of world cinema with their comprehensive work in the field of puppet films (1961), Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize (1946, Zvířátka a Petrovští / Town Musicians of Bremen), Gold Medal for the best puppet film at the Venice IFF (1948, Špalíček / The Czech Year), Méliès Award for the best animated film (1948, Špalíček / The Czech Year; 1950, Císařův slavík / The Emperor's Nightingale; 1952, Staré pověsti České / Old Czech Legends), Special Prize of the Cannes Film Festival (1959, Sen noci svatojánské / A Midsummer Night's Dream), Special Jury Prize at the International Animated Film Festival (1965, Ruka / The Hand) and others.

The Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art proudly follows and honours Trnka´s artistic legacy, especially in the field of illustration and animated film. That is why it established an international art symposium in 2021 which, with the permission of the artist´s family, bears the name of Jiří Trnka.

The symposium is headed by the Artistic Director, akad. mal. Renáta Fučíková. Her advisory body is the Directorate, whose members are appointed by the Dean of the Sutnar Faculty in accordance with the JTIS Statutes (see documents below).

Beatrice Alemagna (1973, Bologna)

Beatrice Alemagna is an internationally acclaimed illustrator and author of books for children and young adults. She graduated from the Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche in Urbino and has been based in Paris since 1997, where she worked as an artist for the Centre Pompidou for more than ten years. Her nearly forty books, published in various languages by major publishing houses in Europe, the USA and Korea, have attracted the attention of both the general public and professionals and have received numerous awards. She won the Strega Ragazzi Award in 2026 and the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal in 2024. She has been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award thirteen times.

She receives the Jiří Trnka Award for her unique approach to illustration and storytelling, in which she combines a subtle poetic quality, playfulness and emotional depth. Her work, distinguished by its unmistakable painterly style and unexpected colour combinations, draws both children and adults into a world full of imagination and, above all, humanity.

Juan Palomino (1984, Mexico City)

Juan Palomino graduated in philosophy from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He illustrates books for children and young adults, which have been published in Mexico and Spain and translated into various foreign languages. His work focuses primarily on images of nature and scenes from prehistory, with a vibrant colour palette that reflects the richness of the Latin American environment. He won the 4th Ibero-American Illustration Catalogue competition, received the 2016 International Award for Illustration at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and took second place in the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival in 2023. Together with Amanda Mijangos and Armando Fonseca, he won a Golden Apple at the 28th Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava.

He receives the Jiří Trnka Award for his striking illustrations, which highlight the bond between humans and nature while inviting reflection on our roots and the world we live in.

Internationale Jugendbibliothek / International Youth Library (Munich)

Founded in Munich in 1949 by writer and journalist Jella Lepman, the International Youth Library is now the world’s largest library specialising in children’s and young adult literature and an important international centre. Its mission is to collect, catalogue, preserve and provide access to books from around the world, as well as to encourage their discovery and foster international cultural exchange. The annual selection for The White Ravens catalogue showcases exceptional books for children and young adults, offering recommendations to professionals worldwide. The library also organises exhibitions, workshops and professional events, and provides resources for academic research.

The Jiří Trnka Award recognises the library’s long-standing commitment to promoting international literature for children and young adults and creating opportunities for cultural exchange, dialogue and mutual understanding.

Download complete programme HERE.

TUESDAY 20 OCTOBER 2026

9:30 AM Conference (Multilab)

• Petra Polláková
  Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
• Helena Cox
  An amazingly beautiful world where all things are contingent upon each other: Arthur Boyd’s illustrations for Peter Porter’s Narcissus as Critic (1984)
• Katja Wiebe
  Vital waters: representations of the river in current picture books
• Vladimír Kočí
  Visualising sustainability: the role of images in communicating environmental impacts and responsibility
• Veronika Peslerová, Zuzana Streichsbierová, Marika Zadembská and Petra Schwarzová Žallmannová
  Bridges to Books
  Giving confidence to those who guide children to reading

2:00 PM Artists’ presentations (Multilab)

• Beatrice Alemagna
• Juan Palomino
• Saki Matsumoto
• Michaela Dušková and Filip Tatýrek
• Art Studio Agrafka
• Kateřina Coufalová
• Miloš Kopták
• Luca Tóth
• David Böhm
• Internationale Jugendbibliothek

7:00 PM Gala evening – Jiří Trnka Awards Ceremony

Gala reception at the faculty (Multilab)

WEDNESDAY 21 OCTOBER 2026

9:30 AM Breakfast with a theorist

• Helena Cox (Book Design and Paper Shaping)
• Petra Polláková (Didactic Illustration)

9:30 AM Film screening

• Luca Tóth (Multilab)

10:00 AM Workshops

• David Böhm (Comics and Illustration for Children)
• Art Studio Agrafka (Didactic Illustration)

1:00 PM Workshops

• Tereza Říčanová (Comics and Illustration for Children)
• Kateřina Coufalová (Didactic Illustration)
• Bridges to Books (Multilab)

2:30 PM Workshops

• Juan Palomino (Comics and Illustration for Children)
• Miloš Kopták (Didactic Illustration)
• Ant Nanny (Multilab)

6:00 PM Exhibition opening – works by the laureates and guests

Ladislav Sutnar Gallery, Pilsen city centre (Riegrova street 11)

THURSDAY 22 OCTOBER 2026

9:30 AM Breakfast with a theorist

• Helena Cox (Book Design and Paper Shaping)

9:30 AM Film screening

• Michaela Dušková and Filip Tatýrek (Multilab)

10:00 AM Workshops

• Miloš Kopták (Comics and Illustration for Children)
• Saki Matsumoto (Didactic Illustration)

1:00 PM Workshops

• Juan Palomino (Comics and Illustration for Children)
• Art Studio Agrafka (Didactic Illustration)
• Jugendbibliothek (Multilab)

2:30 PM Workshops

• Kateřina Coufalová (Comics and Illustration for Children)
• Saki Matsumoto (Didactic Illustration)

4:00 PM Student presentations

• Flowerbed (Multilab)

Locations: The names in brackets indicate where each session takes place. Book Design and Paper Shaping, Comics and Illustration for Children and Didactic Illustration are studios at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art. The Multilab hall is on the ground floor of the faculty building (Univerzitní 28, Pilsen). The Ladislav Sutnar Gallery is located at Riegrova 11 in Pilsen city centre.

October 22 – 24, 2024

Under the motto "Freedom is My Home," the third biennial international symposium dedicated to the work of Jiří Trnka took place in October 2024. Alongside the symposium's expert program, various accompanying events for the general public were organized at several locations in Plzeň.

The symposium honors the work of this native of Plzeň, whose contributions to the development of various artistic fields are undeniable. It also provides a platform for leading domestic and international artists, experts, and scholars in illustration and animation to meet. A significant aspect of the symposium is its educational and networking component, which focuses on connecting artists with students from art universities.

Jiří Trnka Award laureates / 2024

• Joanna Concejo, illustrator / Poland
• Petr Sís, illustrator / Czech Republic
• Fondazione Štěpán Zavřel / Italy

The Jiří Trnka International Symposium welcomed illustrators, animators and theoreticians from the Czech Republic, Austria, Japan, Italy, USA, Israel, Ukraine and Slovakia. The symposium participants had the possibility to attend lectures and presentations of local and visiting lecturers, watch animated films, take part in inspiring meetings with renowned artists and theoreticians and see presentations of Sutnar Faculty graduates and students. 

To experience the atmosphere and highlights of the third edition of the Jiří Trnka International Symposium, watch the video.

Guests and lecturers  

Theoreticians: Petra Polláková, Orna Granot (Israel), Martina Pavlikánová (Slovakia), Ivana Noble, Ruth Anderwald a Leonhard Grond (Austria), Vojtěch Domlátil, Radim Kopáč, Andrea Sloupová

Institutions: Fondazione Štěpán Zavřel (Italy), Studio Agrafka (Ukraine - online)

Artists:  Joanna Concejo (Poland/France), Petr Sís (Czech Republic/USA) - presented by Joachim Dvořák, Yuichi Ito (Japan), Mykyta Lyskov (Ukraine - online), Nikola Logosová, Eitan Eloa (Israel), Renáta Fučíková, Marto Kelbl

The Jiří Trnka International Symposium 2024 took place with financial support of the City of Pilsen and under the auspices of the Minister of Culture, Martin Baxa.

25 - 27 October, 2022

The second edition of the international symposium on illustration and animated art offered a series of lectures and workshops for art students and the professional public led by theoreticians and artists from around the world.

At the same time, the public could visit five accompanying exhibitions taking place at galleries and instituions around Pilsen. An extensive exhibition of illustrations of folk, ethnic and author´s fairy tales took place at the Great Synagogue in Pilsen, presenting not only student works but above all illustrations created by the symposium guests. More student works were presented at the Puppet Museum, the Incubator Gallery and the Education and Research Library of the Pilsen Region. The presentation of the Jiří Trnka Award laureates took place at the Ladislav Sutnar Gallery. 

The symposium included the very first award ceremony of the Jiří Trnka Award for extraordinary artistic and theoretical contribution in the field of illustration and animation. Two new publications were introduced during the event - Inner Gardens, the proceedings to the Jiří Trnka International Symposium 2021, and a unique bibliophile edition of the book Two legends of the Grail with Jiří Trnka´s illustrations. The medieval stories are retold by Czech author and poet Radek Malý, graphic design is by Sutnar Faculty´s student Vojtěch Liebl. Jiří Trnka´s son, artist Jan Trnka, was a special guest of the event.

Jiřího Trnka Award laureates / 2022 

Iku Dekune, illustrator / Japan
André Letria, illustrator / Portugal
Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava / Slovakia

The Jiří Trnka International Symposium welcomed illustrators, animators and theoreticians from the Czech Republic, Japan, Portugal, Hungary, Colombia and Slovakia. The symposium participants had the possibility to attend lectures and presentations of local and visiting lecturers, watch animated films, take part in inspiring meetings with renowned artists and theoreticians and see presentations of Sutnar Faculty graduates and students. 

To experience the atmosphere and highlights of the second edition of the Jiří Trnka International Symposium, watch the video.

Guests and lecturers  

Theoreticians: Radim Kopáč, Jana Čeňková, Michaela Mertová, Markéta Formanová, Andrea Sloupová, Fanuel Hanán Díaz (Colombia), Emese Révész (Hungary)

Institution: Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (Slovakia)

Artists: Iku Dekune (Japan), Aneta Holasová, Renáta Fučíková, André Letria (Portugal), Filip Pošivač, Jindra Čapek

The Jiří Trnka International Symposium 2022 took place with financial support of the City of Pilsen.

4  – 7 October, 2021

Trnka’s oeuvre in general, and his book Zahrada (“Garden”) in particular, have served as the inspiration for the pilot edition of the international symposium on illustration and animation, which was organized at the Sutnar Faculty in October 2021 and was very well received.

It was the first edition of a symposium for professional artists, theoreticians and students, which will take place on a regular basis in future. Its aim is to commemorate the strong central European tradition in these fields of visual art and to contribute to their development through discussions, lectures, presentations of works created by students and professionals, and through workshops held by visual artists from the Czech Republic and other countries.

The symposium’s comprehensive programme included a series of lectures and presentations by Czech and international artists and theoreticians, exhibitions of works created by visiting artists and students of the Faculty, presentations of student projects as well as visits to places linked with the life and work of Jiří Trnka. The opportunity of direct contact and intensive cooperation with the visiting artists during the workshops is of great benefit to the students.

To experience the atmosphere and highlights of the first edition of the Jiří Trnka International Symposium, watch the video.

Jiří Trnka International Symposium 2021 hosted the following illustrators, animators and theoreticians from the Czech Republic, Colombia and Italy:

Eva Bartošová, Veronika Bílková, Eliška Děcká, Fanuel Hanán Díaz (Colombia – online lecture), Vojtěch Domlátil, Renáta Fučíková, Marco Ieie (Italy – presentation and workshop), Kristýna Klaban Gregorová, Marie Kohoutová, Radek Malý, Tereza Marianová, Andrea Sloupová, Tereza Ščerbová, Jan Šrámek, Andrea Tachezy.

The symposium was held under the auspices of the Mayor of the City of Pilsen.