Visions of Africa in Polish Children’s Book Illustrations from 1945 to 1989

Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37522/aaav.117.2025.298

Keywords:

illustration, Africa, Polish book illustration, children’s visual culture, Polish School of Illustration

Abstract

This text discusses illustrations that presented various visions of Africa and were published in subsequent editions of the novel W pustyni i w puszczy (In Desert and Wilderness) and in a selection of other children’s books. It also seeks to address the following questions: How did Polish illustrators depict Africa in illustrations for children? What issues and subjects interested them most? To what extent was colonial discourse legible in their portrayals of African people and cultures? What formal means and stylistic approaches did the artists use to create their visions? How faithfully did the illustrators adhere to the literary texts in their compositions? And how did they reconcile their individual styles with the achievements of contemporary art and the influence of African art, which served as an inspiration for many of them?

Author Biography

Piotr Kułak, University of Warsaw

PhD, is a doctor of humanities in the discipline of Art Studies. He graduated from the Institute of Art History, the Institute of Information and Book Studies, and the Postgraduate Museum Studies Program at the University of Warsaw. He is curator and head of the Scientific Collection Management Department of the Eryk Lipiński Museum of Caricature in Warsaw. Kułak is the author of exhibitions, catalogues, and texts on satirical cartooning, caricature, and applied graphics. He edited the volume Ciało w karykaturze, karykatura ciała w sztuce (The Body in Caricature, Caricature of the Body in Art, 2021), co-edited Śladem karykatury. Polskie teksty do 1939 roku. Antologia (In the Footsteps of Caricature. Polish Texts until 1939. An Anthology, 2024), and authored the monograph Nić porozumienia. Ilustracje w książkach serii “Biblioteka Jednorożca” (A Thread of Understanding. Illustrations in the Unicorn Library Series, 2023). His articles have appeared in Muzealnictwo, Quart, and AdRem, among other journals.

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Published

22/11/2025

How to Cite

Kułak, P. (2025). Visions of Africa in Polish Children’s Book Illustrations from 1945 to 1989 : Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis . Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, (117), 121–144. https://doi.org/10.37522/aaav.117.2025.298

Issue

No. 117 (2025): Between Ideology and Imagination: African Art in Eastern Europe during the Cold War

Section

Articles

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.