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Miroslav Sasek

Miroslav Sasek

Miroslav Sasek (1916-1980) (or Meer-oh-slahf Sah-sek as pronounced, and written Ŝaŝek, but best known by his drawn signature: ‘M. Sasek’). Miroslav Sasek was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, November 1916, to parents who generally discouraged his early interest in drawing and painting and pushed him instead into training as an architect. At the onset of the communist coup in 1948, aged 32, Miroslav Sasek left Prague for Munich, where from 1951-57 he worked for Radio Free Europe. 

On a short holiday to Paris and enthralled by the city and its history, Miroslav Sasek realised that distracted parents with children in tow rarely seemed to interpret the city to their off-spring, and that sketches of his surroundings he was making might best be used as illustrations for a children’s book. ‘This Is Paris’ (1959) was born.  

Miroslav Sasek’s illustrations might best be described as whimsical. There’s a gentle and quirky wit to his pictures: the policeman twirls his truncheon much as a child might twirl an imaginary wand; the string of helium balloons sold in the park, an outsized illustration which seems to capture the way a child might prioritize its visual scene, reaches higher than the tallest of palm trees. And this is Miroslav Sasek’s brilliance: his illustrations interpret the adult city to the child, but they as often take their reference from the child’s perspective. He seems to ask, ‘what might he or she see, find interesting, or notice first’.    

Miroslav Sasek wrote short, laconic sentences almost as captions or legends to attach to these illustrations, sentences the directness of which mimic the tones of an adult instructing a wide-eyed and interested child. ‘This Is Paris’, he begins. ‘So here we are’. ‘This is what a bus stop looks like’ and ‘Here’s your ticket’ he continues. (Because of course, each of these everyday things is different wherever you travel). This is direct, instructional, simple and whimsical, and he adopts this gentle tone from the first, right through to the eighteenth ‘This Is’ title. 

The pictures reference the child’s perspective, whilst the words are in the idiomatic style of a kind yet pedagogic parent, one who instinctually knows what might appeal, yet also wishes to be informative. He travels, as it were, hand-in-hand with the child, interpreting each unaccustomed thing, each new site with precision. ‘Detail’, Miroslav Sasek once remarked, ‘is very important to children. If I paint 53 windows instead of 54 in a building, a deluge of letters pours in upon me’.* 

Miroslav Sasek criss-crossed the world to write his books, from Paris to London, Rome to New York, Edinburgh to San Francisco, and as far afield as Israel, Hong Kong and Australia. He lived, otherwise, in Munich where his wife worked, and where his stepson was schooled. His books have been translated into numerous languages and his illustrations have met with critical acclaim, with both ‘This Is London’ and ‘This Is New York’ named ‘Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year’ by the New York Times in 1959 and 1960 respectively. Miroslav Sasek’s own three favourites were ‘This Is Venice’ (1961), ‘This Is Hong Kong’ (1965) and ‘This Is Edinburgh’ (1961) – though, as he reported to Lee Bennett Hopkins, he hated the Scottish weather in Edinburgh.*   

Miroslav Sasek died whilst visiting his sister in Wettingen, Switzerland, in May 1980. He left a legacy of brilliantly illustrated books which have never been out of print. Their mid-century aesthetic finds a particular resonance now with its retro-charm, and as prints, these are not only for children. Miroslav Sasek was instructing the child about the adult’s world, as much as capturing things of immediate interest to the child. There’s the ‘adult’s’ public house, the place of historical importance, the stations and architecture of an adult’s world. As prints particularly, therefore, many of these images have as strong an appeal to adults as the ‘children’s’ images – the balloons in the park, the sailboats in the Jardin du Luxembourg – have for children. This is the art of Miroslav Sasek.    

* Quoted in ‘Books are for People’, Lee Bennett Hopkins (1969)

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Miroslav Sasek - 14th Street Subway

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 265mm x 375mm ..

£95.00 Ex Tax: £79.17

Miroslav Sasek - Bistro

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 205mm x 170mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Miroslav Sasek - California Line

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 125mm x 250mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Miroslav Sasek - California Street

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 345mm x 310mm ..

£95.00 Ex Tax: £79.17

Miroslav Sasek - Covent Garden

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 175mm x 165mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Miroslav Sasek - Étoile

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 270mm x 377mm ..

£95.00 Ex Tax: £79.17

Miroslav Sasek - Fleet Street

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 300mm x 360mm ..

£95.00 Ex Tax: £79.17

Miroslav Sasek - Jardin du Luxembourg

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 145mm x 223mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Miroslav Sasek - Kiosk on the Seine

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 120mm x 250mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Miroslav Sasek - Night Lights of Piccadilly

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 300mm x 343mm ..

£95.00 Ex Tax: £79.17

Miroslav Sasek - Piccadilly Circus Underground Station

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 360mm x 330mm ..

£95.00 Ex Tax: £79.17

Miroslav Sasek - Powell Line

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 125mm x 250mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Miroslav Sasek - Skating in Central Park

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 365mm x 223mm ..

£95.00 Ex Tax: £79.17

Miroslav Sasek - Taxi...!

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 120mm x 200mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Miroslav Sasek - The Bird Market

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 153mm x 190mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Miroslav Sasek - The London Underground

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 340mm x 310mm ..

£95.00 Ex Tax: £79.17

Miroslav Sasek - The Pincio Gardens

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 380mm x 155mm ..

£95.00 Ex Tax: £79.17

Miroslav Sasek - The Pizza King

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 190mm x 167mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Miroslav Sasek - The Sunday Papers

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 135mm x 185mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Miroslav Sasek - The Trevi Fountain

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Miroslav Sasek 300mm x 373mm ..

£95.00 Ex Tax: £79.17