CGD

Magdalena Rutová is an author who needs little introduction at the Czech Grand Design Awards. It has been a pleasure to see how her drawing has been able to adapt to various situations and formats. Her work remains recognizable at first sight, elegantly reacts to contemporary topics and is able to communicate a project’s unique mood to the audience. Her work typically employs strong lines and a sense for short-hand and humor which is able to lighten up even the most serious topics.

Over the past year, her work appeared in a few very different contexts. She illustrated the promotional materials and a large-format curtain for Má vlast that became one of the most visually striking aspects of this performance produced in the spaces of Azyl 78. The drawings, however, are not mere decorations but comprise an integral part of the scene and create the entire performance’s atmosphere. Her illustrations for the Momentum of a Decision installation presented at the Milan Triennial of design and architecture were also a natural fit, as they entered into a unique dialog with the space and contributed to the installation’s overall aesthetic feel. Her drawings were also featured as part of the accompanying publication.

We now come to the genre where Magda is like a fish in water: book illustrations. She has collaborated with Michaela Kukovičová on the publication Ženská práce for HOST publishers, where her illustrations engage with the text in a soft but accurate dialog. They are austere, even raw, while at other times they are slightly ironic, giving the book another layer of meaning without making themselves the center of attention. Her projects also show the immense joy she gets from drawing – from the process of observation, experimentation and searching, to the inclusion of small mistakes which comprise an integral part of the creative process. This open and natural approach gives her work immense energy, and the illustrations are thus able to function at various scales and in various settings, whether featured in a book, at an exhibition or as part of scenography.

František Kast

The long-awaited, large-format picture book Já, chobotnice (I, Octopus) by Magdalena Rutová came out on the very last day of 2022 and immediately became the hit of the season in children’s literature. The detailed, full-page color illustrations about the heroine who comedically, with an animal’s perspective, comments on our contemporary world are not only illustrative (i.e. expanding and commenting on the text), but are also a wonderful addition to the entire ‘puzzle book’ genre, where readers search for things on the page. Right after this narrative book which launched Magdalena’s year, she worked on the dynamic comics illustrations for Čavargoš (Wanderer) – a new edition of the legendary original story by Roma author Tera Fabiánová (Kher publishers) – and Petr Váša’s children’s book Rajčaťáci a Banáni (The Tomatoes and Bananas, Host publishers) which was illustrated with a great sense for portrait work and insight into everyday environments. And finally, towards the end of the year, there was the non-fiction book Život sochy v Praze (The Life of a Sculpture in Prague), edited by Marie Foltýnová with the Prague City Gallery publishers, where Magdalena rendered diverse motifs and both historical and contemporary themes with a candid sense for irony. Apart from her illustrations, Magdalena’s art project for children called Fridays for lino is also exceptional. She makes use of her immense talent and expertise in the field, a fact regularly confirmed by the audience’s continuing interest, as well as the assessment of expert critics (the BOOK ME prize published on facebook for the book of the year, and the Zlatá stuha award for Já, chobotnice in two categories).

In the sphere of applied illustration, Magdalena Rutová is even more extraordinary: just see the linocut for the Johannes Cyder company (with wonderful graphic production by Hynek Štětka) or the portraits in the Bibion edition series. She regularly publishes her work on her website, facebook and Instagram, and keeps her Linostock linocut bank regularly updated. This year, her illustrations were given a solo exhibition in Paris, Nantes and at the FIK Festival in Ústí nad Labem. Magdalena Rutová’s work is unique in both the Czech and European context – it is original, lively and self-confident while remaining understandable for both children and an adult audience.

Tereza Horváthová