Noah's Ark

Vojtěch Kubašta (b.1914 Vienna, d.1992 Prague) was one of the most prolific and inventive paper engineers in the history of children's pop-up books. After university in Prague in the late 1930s he practiced architecture then turned his illustrating talents to advertisements for beer, sunglasses and films. He also designed the celebrated 3-D Christmas cr che and drew Old Prague scenes which appealed to locals living under NAZI forces during World War Two. Ultimately Kubašta followed his youthful yearning to be an artist and focused on creating children's pop-up books for the State printer Artia during the 1950s and 1960s.

Kubašta clearly had a high regard for the ability of children to imagine the proportions and perceive the distances in the lively pop-up illustrations he designed. The thought of creating "A...theatre inside the book" inspired Kubašta's imagination when he was crafting his pop-up book designs, drawing on his experience of puppetry from the early 1940s when he had worked for a noted puppet theatre director Cenek Sovak (Rubin, Pop-ups from Prague : a centennial celebration of the graphic artistry of Vojtech KubaSta (1914-1992), pp 17 - 21).

Kubašta's most inventive works feature a large portfolio sized tri-fold book with the story stapled into the centre. The great surprise is at the end - the back cover is folded out to bring to life the gloriously colourful double pop-up. Some of these works stand as high as 33 centimetres.

Kubašta's Noah's Ark (196-?) became available at auction in early 2014 and Library staff made a decision to bid for it. We reasoned that it would complement the nine other Kubašta works held in the Children's Literature Research Collection, the condition of the piece was very good, the colours had remained bright and the pop-up and end-papers depict Australian animals.

In the front row of pop-up animals is a grinning kangaroo with a joey in her pouch, complete with a baby's dummy. The illustrated end paper depicts Noah at a lectern describing to the worried-looking animals the catastrophe which is about to ensue. In his pocket sits a small kangaroo. The only creature not at all concerned is Noah's grandson, who sits at Noah's feet with his pet platypus.

Another lovely feature of this wonderfully executed pop-up is the nocturnal house on the Ark. If you peek in carefully you will see two owls gazing in the dark. The rest of the menagerie is very busy helping each other build the Ark. The last illustration (not shown) shows the happy pairs of animals, including an unlikely dinosaur, descending from the ark, which is perched under a rainbow on a mountain top. This piece gives free reign to Kubašta's talents as an artist and paper engineer, humanist and environmentalist.

Kubašta kept a large research library which is evident in his treatment of subject matters from places far away from his own (Rubin, Pop-ups from Prague : a centennial celebration of the graphic artistry of Vojtech KubaSta (1914-1992), pp 17 - 21). As he wished to work at pace he preferred to have reference material close at hand rather than use up time to seek out information.

Beside the beautiful pieces, Kubašta's great legacy was how he inspired a new generation of artists and authors to continue the skill and artistry of pop-up books.

We were very fortunate to be able to correspond with Dagmar, Kubašta's daughter, also an artist, by email earlier this year. She said of her father, 'He was such a wonderful gentleman', and told us how pleased she was that people continued to take an interest in his work. We hope that this display will pique your interest and encourage you to explore the rich body of Kubašta's work.

Since Noah's Ark arrived at the Library it has been of great interest to library staff and patrons, and we are very pleased to be able to display it and Kubašta's other works as part of the Treasures Wall A Theatre inside the Book exhibition, for which it was a catalyst.

This item is reproduced courtesy of Dagmar Vrkljan. It may be printed or saved for research or study. Use for any other purpose requires written permission from Dagmar Vrkljan. To request approval, complete the Quote for Copy/Permission form.