Gabriela Cichowska
Gabriela Cichowska (* 1984 in Rzeszów ) is a Polish graphic artist and illustrator who works among other things for picture books . Since she was awarded an Honorable Mention at the Children's Book Fair in Bologna for her picture book Fantje, she is considered one of the most important young illustrators in Poland. She is currently nominated for the 2014 German Youth Literature Prize for the book Fräulein Esther's Illustrated Last Performance . She lives and works in Łódź .
life and work
Gabriela Cichowska attended P. Michalowski Secondary School in Rzeszów and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow at the Faculty of Graphics, which she successfully graduated in 2011. Cichowska's work has received numerous awards and is collected and exhibited in various national and international cultural institutions and private collections.
Cichowska has illustrated one book so far - Fantje , by author and publisher Adam Jaromir . In this book a little white elephant packs his bundle and goes out into the world, equipped with five nuts. At the end of his journey, he ends up in a china shop in Meissen. Cichowska also received various awards for Fantje . Her new picture book, Miss Esther's Last Performance - A Story from the Warsaw Ghetto (2013), was also written by Adam Jaromir. The creation of the book could be followed on the internet on Adam Jaromir's website. In Germany, the illustrator is only known to a specialist audience so far, mainly through an exhibition in the International Youth Library in Munich in 2009.
Although Cichowska has only illustrated one picture book, she immediately inspired the professional world and is considered the most important young illustrator of picture books in Poland. Fantje has received international awards, including an honorable mention at the Bologna Ragazzi Award 2011. The jury's statement said that Fantje was “supported by a masterful graphic that draws from the wealth of cultures” and was “an equally cheerful and serious homage to the mystery of childlike perception in those years when everything is tiny or larger than life ”.
In addition, Fantje received a White Raven from the International Youth Library Munich 2010, an honorable mention from the Polish Publishers Association PTWK as one of the most beautiful books of 2011 and a nomination for Book of the Year 2011 from IBBY Poland. For the magazine “Eselsohr” Fantje combines “pop-up-like shapes, Eastern European narrative and drawing art and that magical spinning that is missing in many picture books today”.
In 2012 she was a member of the jury for the award The Extraordinary Book of the children and youth program of the Berlin International Literature Festival .
Press review
Artistic importance
“Gabriela Cichowska is one of the many great talents in Poland and with her debut she conquered the Polish and German book markets at the same time. And not only that - her picture book Słoniątko ( Fantje ) was praised at the 2011 Children's Book Fair in Bologna as part of the Ragazzi Awards. "
Fantje (2010)
"In fact, Fantje combines pop-up-like forms, Eastern European storytelling and drawing, and that magical craze that is missing in many picture books today."
" Adam Jaromir’s short story is adorned with witty and ingenious details - eg on his journey, the elephant spontaneously decides to get one ear pierced. The wonderful illustrations by Gabriela Cichowska, which thanks to the book's large format can be fully appreciated, further add to the story's great charm. "
Miss Esther's Last Performance - A Story from the Warsaw Ghetto (2013)
“Anyone who reads Miss Esther's last performance in preparation as a father or mother should know this background. Because Adam Jaromir's lyrics build on them. And scarcity: Brittle laconicity is the harrowing tone in which, based on the notes Korczak left behind, Jaromir lets the doctor and the fictional twelve-year-old Genia tell about the last weeks of the orphanage. Both use the present tense, a style that immediately exerts a pull. Every sentence becomes a silent beat that sets oppressive chains of thought in motion [...]. […] Cichowska and Jaromir do not spare their childish readers anything, but they portray the horror carefully and suggestively. […] Just as this book with its demand for concentration and its wonderfully poignant images could be an antipole, a dike against the numbing flood of computer-animated worlds of violence that change every second. "
"The lavishly designed, documentary and lyrically condensed book is reminiscent of people who support children with respect and art, even in dark times."
"A unique masterpiece in which text and images tell a story of the last few months in Janusz Korczak's orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto."
“It's a moving true story that is told here in short sentences and with large, dreamlike illustrations in earthy tones. [...] A harrowing book, a great memory. "
“The publisher, author, translator and explorer Adam Jaromir has produced many a literary and aesthetic pearl: The bibliophile drama Miss Esther's last performance is certainly one of his outstanding works. [...] In addition to the literarily precious execution, there is an art of illustration that puts the past and soul tension into the picture in an earthy and precise manner. Collage technique that touches like seldom and implements typographically what happens in a dialog. A book for the list of the most beautiful books, despite all the tragedy. "
“But what Adam Jaromir (as author), the young Polish artist Gabriela Cichowska (as illustrator) and Dorota Nowacka (as graphic designer) have created is a unique little masterpiece of book art, a congenial combination of text, image and Creation of a true, deeply moving story. […] Books like this are not only reminiscent of traditional Polish picture book art, they are proof that young artists can preserve a legacy and at the same time enrich it with their own visions. "
bibliography
| First edition | title | text | illustration | publishing company | ISBN | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Fantje | Adam Jaromir | Gabriela Cichowska | Gimpel (Hanover) | ISBN 978-83-8977441-5 | Co-edited with the Polish publisher Muchomor (Polish title of the book: Słoniątko )
Blurb: Tiny, way too white and somehow different - that was Fantje. One day it packed its bundle and went out into the world. How!? Just because? Exactly. It took a little courage and ... five nuts. But that's not all. Thanks to this trip, Fantje found happiness. Where and how - you will find out in this book. Nut for nut. |
| 2013 | Miss Esther's Last Performance - A Story from the Warsaw Ghetto | Adam Jaromir | Gabriela Cichowska | Gimpel (Hanover) | ISBN 978-3-9811300-8-9 | Original edition |
Awards
- 2007: Grand Prix at the 1st Malych Form student biennial in Racibórz , Poland
- 2007: Award at the Biennale in Barreiro in Portugal
- 2007: 2nd prize at the 15th National Vincent van Gogh Art Competition in Rybnik , Poland
- 2008: 2nd prize at the National Climate Competition in Tarnów in Poland
- 2008: 1st prize at the 16th National Vincent van Gogh Art Competition in Rybnik , Poland
- 2011: White Raven from the International Youth Library in Munich for Fantje
- 2011: Special mention at the Bologna Ragazzi Awards in the Opera Prima category on April 7th for Fantje
- 2011: Nomination for Book of the Year 2011 for Fantje by IBBY Poland
- 2013: Miss Esther's last performance - A story from the Warsaw Ghetto appears on the Deutschlandfunk best list The best 7 - books for young readers in September
- Entry on the list of honor of the Museum of Children's and Young People's Literature in Warsaw
- 2014: Nomination for the German Youth Literature Award 2014 in the non-fiction category for Fräulein Esther's last performance - A story from the Warsaw ghetto
- 2014: Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize for children's and youth books for Miss Esther's last performance as an illustrator
Exhibitions
- 2005: Exhibition in Lviv , Ukraine
- 2005: Exhibition in Łańcut in Poland as part of the 44th International Music Festival
- 2006: Exhibition in Polichrono in Greece
- 2006: Exhibition in Ustroń , Poland
- 2006: Exhibition in Łańcut in Poland as part of the 45th International Music Festival
- 2006: Exhibition in the Ethnographic Museum in Lviv , Ukraine
- 2008: Exhibition in Bytom in Poland
- 2009: Exhibition in Krakow in January as part of the Artist Mirror Self-Portrait exhibition
- 2009: Participation as an artist in the exhibition And the Animals Came Two - Józef Wilkoń and the current Polish children's book illustration in the International Youth Library in Munich
- 2010: Exhibition SZTUKA! - Positions of current Polish art in Pinneberg in June and July as part of the KulturSommers in Schleswig-Holstein
- 2010: Award as one of the most beautiful books of the year for Fantje by the Polish Publishers Association PTWK
- 2012: Presentation of Miss Esther's last performance - A story from the Warsaw Ghetto as part of the exhibition I am small, but important - Janusz Korczak's children's republic, presented in illustrations and pictures in the battlements gallery of the International Youth Library in Munich on July 5th until September 16
Festival participation
- 2012: Children and youth program of the 12th international literature festival berlin in September
Web links
- Website by Gabriela Cichowska
- Portraits of Gabriela Cichowska: international literature festival berlin - Gimpel-Verlag - International Youth Library (PDF; 3.0 MB)
- Reviews of Fantje : White Ravens catalog - Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (PDF; 868 kB) - The red elephant (PDF; 81 kB) - Eselsohr - Librikon.de
- Miss Esther's last performance - A story from the Warsaw Ghetto : website for the creation of the book - book trailer
- Short biography and reviews of works by Gabriela Cichowska at perlentaucher.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Adam Jaromir's blog )
- ^ The 48th Children's Book Fair in Bologna
- ↑ boersenblatt.net
- ↑ Overview study on current children's and youth literature in Poland, Russia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary (PDF; 3.0 MB), p. 22
- ↑ Poetic Globetrotters . ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: eselsohr , issue 5-2011, p. 19.
- ↑ ijb.de
- ↑ There are no birds here and there is no thunder . In: FAZ , September 21, 2013, p. 32
- ↑ Adam Jaromir: Miss Esther's last performance . (PDF) In: NZZ am Sonntag , November 24, 2013, p. 15
- ↑ Siggi Seuss: Miss Esther's last performance . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 13, 2013, p. 15
- ↑ [Allegedly:] Shocking . In: Die Zeit , No. 3/2014, p. 36
- ↑ Variations of Cruelty . In: eselsohr-leseablebnis.de February 2014, p. 11
- ↑ Siggi Seuss: Suites of memories . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , March 18, 2014, p. 14
- ↑ ijb.de
- ↑ dradio.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cichowska, Gabriela |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Polish illustrator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1984 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rzeszów , Poland |