Illustrated book
Jedná se o ilustrovanou knihu Citadela spisovatele Antoina de Saint-Exupéryho. Kniha obsahuje 33 ilustrací uvnitř nebo na obálce. Cílem práce bylo vytvořit funkční publikovatelnou a umělecky hodnotnou knihu pomocí souboru ilustrací, které by vyjadřovaly hloubku literární předlohy a svou atmosférou působily uklidňujícím dojmem na čtenářovu mysl.
The topic of my diploma thesis is an illustrated book. I chose a book named Citadel, written by french author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This unfinished book can be hard to summarize, as it is written prosaically from a sovereign´s point of view, but it contains philosophical thoughts about fundamental truths, God and humanity at the same time.
I was inclined to create a collection of illustrations, which would express the contrast between the perishable human and permanent God, more symbolically, using the visual side of mountains.
I was experimenting with several techniques and tried structural graphic
printing, aquarelle painting, and oil painting. During the process, I realized the true purpose of my work, as I found a way to express Citadel´s main thought. The citadel is the site of the last resistance, and it preserves the city from external threats. Exupéry equates the city to the human heart. He also states that the “monarch” is able to build the “citadel” in the human heart. It means that God can fortify our inner world and prevent it from anything threatful. Also, we should be willing to change our inner self in order to become better to his image.
This idea led me to creating a series of paintings describing an imaginary
place in a human’s heart. It symbolizes something changing and indescriptive, but reflecting something static and exceeding, too.
The final form of my thesis is a designed and illustrated publishable book. The color palette of illustrations was reduced to dark blue, which supports focus on reading and for me it is the color which evoques Citadel´s spiritual mood the most.
I hope that with my diploma thesis I created a calm place for the lovers of
Exupéry´s books. Such a place that could resemble a real citadel. One that can withstand external influences and protect one’s heart.
