Maja Dusíková

Maja Dusíková was born on the 30^th of August 1946 in the town of Piešťany. She graduated from the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Bratislava and Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, the Department of Printmaking and Illustration headed by Professor Albín Brunovský and Professor Vincent Hložník. Since the 80s she has been living and working in Italy, recently in Florence.

The artist's illustrations have their own subtle mood. She uses prevailingly watercolour technique, which endows her work with tenderness, transparency and also an apparent lyrical poetics. A cold blue colouring contrasts with radiant, expressive yellow tones that both limit the scene to a certain degree and emphasise its intimate nature. Her figures possess an incredible, almost ephemeral gentleness and nice looks. Colours shift her depiction and expression into phenomenal “likeability”. Despite such impression her illustrations preserve typical mood of ethereal lightness, serenity and harmony. Within the field of the art of illustration she published her first book in 1974 at the 'Mladé letá' Publishing House. Since then she has illustrated some 50 books for children and adults for various publishing houses in Slovakia, Italy, Switzerland and France. She presented her illustrations at many collective and also independent exhibitions in former Czechoslovakia, Italy, Japan, Slovakia and other countries. She, naturally, intuitively tried to link together the Slovak poetics with influences of the environment where she has been living. That is how happened that her work carries overlapping elements of classical Slovak illustrators school with certain elements of Italian and Swiss atmosphere. This makes her an illustrator who is not typically Slovak or Italian, but original. She is able to transport depth, light, darkness and even silence on the paper. The atmosphere and the mood can be almost heard from her illustrations.

Author of the text: Mgr. Barbara Brathová, art historian

Beside illustration she focuses on printmaking and puppet art.

Divý pes Dingo (R. I. Frajerman, Mladé letá 1967, 1981); Tri holúbky (P. Dobšinský, Mladé letá 1970, Buvik 2006); Od kočiara po raketu (S. Michalkov, Mladé letá 1980); Zlatá muzika (O. Sliacky, Mladé letá 1980); Ako rastieme (M. Baloghová, Mladé letá 1981); Stretnutie s Michaelou (V. Klevis, Mladé letá 1982); E quando Gesu ha trent'anni...; Il mio Natale; Gesu racconta; Maria di Nazareth; Gesu cresce come me; Gesu resta con noi; Io sono vivo; La Pasqua di Gesu; La mia Pasqua (S. Serenella Macchietti – Angela Ebenecci, La scuola 1990); Čarodejný pištec (E. Dzurillová, Spolok sv. Vojtecha 1992); La casa sotto il grande faggio (P. G. Mapelli, La Scuola 1993); La guardiana delle oche (J. – W. Grimm, Panini 1993); Le dodici principesse danzanti (J. – W. Grimm, Panini 1993); Il pifferaio di Hamelin (J. – W. Grimm, Panini ragazzi 1994); La sirenetta (H. Ch. Andersen, Panini ragazzi 1994); Ein Geschenk vom Nikolaus (D. Lachner, Nord-Süd 1994, 2002); Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht (Nord-Süd 1995, 2007); Die geschichte vom Weihnachtsglockchen (R. Krenzer, Bohem Press 1995, 2016); Dúhové rozprávky (A. C. Branchi, Egmont Neografia 1995); Alina Aluna und die zwölf Monatsbrüder (P. Grosz, Nord-Süd 1996); Doucette (J. – W. Grimm, Nord-Süd 1997); Rapunzel (B. Grimm, Nord-Süd Verlag 1997, 2015); Leb wohl, Chaja! (Antonie Schneider, Nord-Süd 1997); Du warst es! sagte Berberitz (D. Lachner, Nord-Süd 1997); Sankt Martin und der kleine Bär (A. Schneider, Nord-Süd 2000, 2017); Sarahs Weide (F. Recknagel, Nord-Süd 2001); Stimmt das alles was man hört? (U. Weigelt, Nord-Süd 2002); Sarah's willow (F. Recknagel, North-South Books 2002); Wann ist endlich Weihnachten? (A. Schneider, Nord-Süd 2004); Monstermädchen Mona (M. Petz, Nord-Süd 2004); C'era una volta, due volte, chissa... (H. Ch. Andersen, J. - W. Grimm, Ch. Perrault, S. Prokofiev, Panini ragazzi 2005); Advent storybook : 24 stories to share before Christmas (A. Schneider, North-South Books 2005); Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse (H. Ch. Andersen, Nord-Süd 2007); Hrnček, var (M. Rúfus, Buvik 2007, 2014); Heidi (J. Spyri, Nord-Süd 2009, 2024); Kleiner Löwe, willst du den König sehen? (A. Schneider, Berlin Verlag Bloomsbury 2009); Bambi (F. Salten, NordSud 2011, 2017); The princess and the pea (H. Ch. Andersen, Floris Books 2012); Uspávanky ; Prebúdzanky (M. Števková, Buvik 2016); Malá morská víla (H. Ch. Andersen, Buvik 2018); Santa Claus and the Christmas surprise (D. Lachner, 2018); Jankina perinka (A. Miller, Buvik 2022).

Slovník českých a slovenských výtvarných umělců 1950 - 1998. II.  D – G. Ostrava : Výtvarné centrum Chagall, 1998, s. 141. ISBN 80-86171-02-7.

BRATHOVÁ, Barbara: Maja Dusíková. In Slovenská detská kniha. Zost. Ľubica Kepštová. Bratislava : Literárne informačné centrum, 2008, s. 86-89. ISBN 978-80-89222-57-5.
BRATHOVÁ, Barbara: Slovak United Imagi Nations. Bratislava : Literárne informačné centrum, 2009, s.132-137. ISBN 978-80-89222-75-9.

VESELÝ, Marian: Každý vlastným spôsobom. In Bibiana. 2003, roč. 10, č. 1, s. 32-33. Dostupné na internete: 

http://www.bibiana.sk/sites/default/files/sites/default/files/digital_archive/rocnikx_1_2003_0.pdf ISSN 1335-7263.

1998 UNICEF Prize, Geneva, Switzerland
1999 Prix Chronos, Paris, France
           The Best Children's Book, U.S.A.
2002 Ľudovít Fulla Award for illustrations for children and youth
2005 Premio Beato Angelico, Rome, Italy