Barbora Štefanová Libri

This book presents film posters and other graphic design work by the Czech artist Karel Vaca (1919–1989). Karel Vaca was active in a variety of media, working as a painter, book illustrator, graphic designer, and set and costume designer. Between 1958 and 1988, Karel Vaca designed 302 film posters for the Czechoslovak State Film Distribution Company (Ústřední půjčovna filmů) and is regarded as one of the most distinguished designers of Czechoslovak cinema posters. The present publication also features examples of Vaca’s work in the field of applied arts (book covers, illustration, and stage design). It also documents Vaca’s posters for theatre productions and other public events, featuring 36 original poster sketches. The book includes a complete catalogue of all the 362 posters designed by Karel Vaca.In English and Czech.

This publication is dedicated to Ester Krumbachová (1923–1996), a significant costume designer, screenwriter, writer, director, and artist. She collaborated with theater figures such as Miroslav Macháček, Ladislav Smoček, and Ivan Vyskočil, as well as filmmakers like Otakar Vávra, Věra Chytilová, Jan Němec, Karel Kachyňa, and Petr Václav. The aim of this work is a critical examination of the previously unknown legacy of Ester Krumbachová, her oeuvre, and themes that resonate into the present. The book consists of multiple layers, featuring scholarly and essayistic texts by both Czech and international specialists from various fields, alongside archival materials organized into thematic, loosely connected clusters. This rhizomatic structure closely reflects Krumbachová's own working methods and reveals her thoughts on directing, scenography, costume design, screenwriting, as well as on detail, active objects, color concepts, the symbiosis of film professions, magic, folklore, exoticism, realism, subjectivity, hierarchy, gender polarity, queerness, feminism, love and sexuality, food, and companionship.