Josef Lada

Josef Lada (1887 – 1957) was a Czech painter, illustrator, cartoonist and writer. He belongs to the generation that shaped the comic and the children's book in his country, and today his name is so closely tied to Czech identity that many people regard him as a national emblem. Pablo Picasso reportedly considered him one of the greatest Czech artists of all time.

Lada was born on 17 December 1887 in Hrusice, in Bohemia, then part of Austria-Hungary. His father was a shoemaker. When he was about one year old, an accident in the family workshop permanently cost him the sight of his right eye. He was the youngest of four children. He was entirely self-taught and never received formal art training, yet he became a highly respected artist in Czechoslovakia.

His output is remarkably large: more than 600 paintings and over 15,000 illustrations, drawings and cartoons for books, newspapers and magazines. His recurring subjects include his home village, water goblins and sprites, night watchmen, tavern brawls and the traditional pig slaughter. Political satire also forms a significant part of his cartoons, and many of them still feel fresh today.

As a writer, he published fairy tales and an autobiography, The Chronicle of My Life. He also illustrated books by other authors, including Božena Němcová and Karel Jaromír Erben. His best-known work as an illustrator is the drawings for Jaroslav Hašek's novel The Good Soldier Švejk, which have become inseparable from the text in many editions around the world.

His legacy is twofold. He is regarded as a pioneer of the Czech comic tradition and the founder of the Czech modern fairy tale genre. His drawings also appear on calendars, stamps, toys and countless everyday products, keeping his presence alive in the country's daily life. In Hrusice, his former house now holds a museum devoted to his work.