Viera Kraicová
Biography
Viera Kraicová was born on the 5th of July 1920 in the town of Modra. She studied at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, at the Department of Drawing and Painting under the supervision of Professors Ján Mudroch, Gustáv Mallý, Martin Benka, Maximilián Schurmann, Eugen Lehotský and Vladimír Droppa, and later at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under the supervision of Professors Ján Želibský and Karol Minář. In 1952-1955 she worked as an assistant to Ján Želibský at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, and then she went freelance. She died on the 29th of April 2012 in Bratislava.
Illustration Features
Viera Kraicová’s style was lyrical and imaginative, so she often illustrated poems. Most common technique in her illustrations is watercolour painting used for creating dreamlike scenes with intensely stylised figures of ephemeral shapes composed by colour. Her work is spontaneous and easy, which makes her illustrations more powerful. She was able to interconnect non-figurativeness with figurativeness, poetry with expressiveness. Her illustrations are a combination of playfulness and seriousness, a combination of joy and passion and their final shape arose from playing with colours. Delicacy of her illustrations is highlighted by use of deep colours.
Author of the text: Mgr. Viera Anoškinová, art historian
Other areas of creation
Besides illustrating books, she devoted herself to free painting.
Bibliography of Illustrated Books for Children and Youth
Do školy (M. Kukučín, SNDK 1955); Babička (B. Němcová, Mladé letá 1965, 1967, 1972, 1975, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1995, Odeon 1981); Sedmikráska (M. Rázusová-Martáková, Mladé letá 1966, 1969, 1973); Zlatovláska (K. J. Erben, Mladé letá 1968); Chlapčekovo leto (M. Rázusová-Martáková, Mladé letá 1968, 1981); Išlo dievča po vodu (M. Ďuríčková, Mladé letá 1969); Premeny (P. Ovidius Naso, Mladé letá 1970); Čakanka (Ľ. Podjavorinská, Mladé letá 1972); Braček a sestrička (M. Jančová, Mladé letá 1973, 1980, 1988); Kniha rozprávok (M. Rúfus, Mladé letá 1975, 1978); Poďte deti, medzi nás (K. Ondrejka, Mladé letá 1980); Sklený rybník (J. Kovaľ, Mladé letá 1983).
Literature about the Illustrator
KUBOVÁ, Matilda – CPIN, Peter: Tvorcovia detskej knihy. 3. dopl. vyd. Bratislava : Mladé letá, 1991. [75] l. ISBN 80-06-00319-X.
Slovník českých a slovenských výtvarných umělců 1950 - 2001. VI. Kon - Ky. Ostrava : Výtvarné centrum Chagall, 2001, s. 194-195. ISBN 80-86171-06-X.
Skutočná veľkosť : malé formy Viery Kraicovej. Bratislava : Petrus, 2005. Nestr. ISBN 80-89233-02-3.
BAJCÚROVÁ, Katarína: Viera Kraicová. Bratislava: Petrus, 2015. 239 s. ISBN 978-80-89233-77-9.
Awards for Illustrations
1967 'Mladé letá' Publishing House Award '66 for the book Sedmikráska (Daisy)
Most Beautiful Czechoslovak Books '66 for the book Sedmikráska
1969 Most Beautiful Czechoslovak Books '68 for the book Chlapčekovo leto (The Boy's Summer)
1976 Most Beautiful Czechoslovak Books '75 for the book Kniha rozprávok (The Book of Fairy Tales)
1981 Most Beautiful Czechoslovak Books '80 for the book Poďte deti medzi nás (Come Children and Join Us)
1987 Ľudovít Fulla Award for illustrations for children and youth
BIB Participation
1967, 1971, 1973