The Authors

"The draftsmen who assisted in creating Octobriana were masters of the adventure illustration genre in Czechoslovakia. Bohumil “Bimba” Konečný (19 April 1918–14 January 1990) made most of the drawings and covers. Born in Pilsen, West Bohemia, he contributed to magazines such as Mladý Hlasatel (Young Herald), Vpřed (Forward), Stezka (Trail) and Ohníček (Fire). While his work initially reflected his admiration of the older artist Zdeněk Burian, he soon broke away from his role model and created his own style, drawing additional inspiration from Luděk Marold’s realism. In the 1940s, Konečný graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Prague, where he studied at Professor Jakub Obrovský’s studio. He spent most of his life making illustrations. His realistic portrayal of American prairies was allegedly inspired by scenery along the river Malše in South Bohemia. He illustrated books by Batlička and Jaroslav Foglar as well as other cowboy and adventure stories. He worked in package design, advertising, promotion flyers and posters, his work corresponding with that of American commercial illustration in the 1940 and 1950s. He made posters targeting the North American market for the Czechoslovak Chamber of Commerce. He likely would have achieved international acclaim had his work not been interrupted by the German occupation and later by communism, for which his style was too bourgeois. He was more skilled than his better-known colleague Burian and his visualization and knowledge of anatomy were remarkable. His talent went largely unrecognized, and he lived in reduced circumstances; among friends, he did not conceal the fact that at a certain point in his life his wife was supporting him.
Miloš Novák (16 January 1909–29 September 1988) unknowingly contributed a few images of helicopters flying over Prague to the Octobriana oeuvre. A student of Václav Sychra, he illustrated adventure novels and gained recognition by illustrating Alois Jirásek’s classic 19th-century novel F. L. Věk. He did work for the daily Svobodné Slovo for a period of time and made attempts at painting. Novák had a few solo exhibitions; one of the last took place in the 1980s at Prague’s Strawberry Bar on Vodičkova Street.
With Burian, Konečný and Novák formed the old guard of adventure illustrators who had gained their first experience before World War II — and before the socialist state’s cultural policy dominated the book market. In post-war Czechoslovakia, these artists clashed with the official esthetics; furthermore, the mass production of adventure literature they depended on was curtailed.
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01.03.2002