Jiří Trnka facts for kids

Jiří Trnka (born February 24, 1912 – died December 30, 1969) was a famous Czech artist. He was a talented puppet-maker, illustrator (someone who draws pictures for books), animator (who makes cartoons), and film director.

Jiří Trnka is best known for his amazing animated films using puppets. He started making these films in 1946. Many of his movies were based on famous books and stories. Because he was so important in animation, some people called him "the Walt Disney of Eastern Europe." In 1968, he won the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustrators. This award recognized his big contributions to children's books.

Jiří Trnka's Life Story

Early Years and Education

Jiří Trnka was born in Pilsen, a city in western Bohemia. His family was middle class. Even though his father was a plumber and his mother a dressmaker, they were still very connected to their farming roots. As a child, Jiří loved to sculpt puppets from wood. He would put on small shows for his friends.

Later, he went to a special school in his hometown. There, he met his teacher Josef Skupa. Skupa became a very important person in the world of Czech puppeteers. Skupa was Jiří's mentor. He helped Trnka a lot and convinced his family to let him study art. His family was not sure at first, but they agreed. Jiří then went to the famous School of Applied Arts in Prague. He studied there from 1929 to 1935.

Jiří Trnka's Career as an Illustrator

After finishing art school and working in a printmaking shop, Trnka became a successful illustrator. He worked for a publishing company in Prague called Melantrich. His first book with his drawings was Tygr pana Boška (The Tiger of Mr. Bošek) in 1937.

From then on, Trnka drew pictures for many children's books. He illustrated 130 books in his life, mostly for kids. His drawings for the tales of the Brothers Grimm are very famous. He also illustrated Czech folktales by authors like Jiří Horák and Jan Páleníček. His illustrations for Bajaja by Vladimír Holan (1955) were also very popular. This book later inspired one of his animated films. Trnka also illustrated stories by Andersen and Perrault. He drew for La Fontaine's fables, The Thousand and One Nights, and even some works by Shakespeare. He also illustrated Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

Sometimes, his ideas for illustrations led to animated films. This happened with Bajaja and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Trnka also wrote and illustrated some children's books himself. One example is Through the Magic Gate, published in London in 1962.

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is a very important award for children's book writers or illustrators. Trnka received the Illustrator award in 1968 for his lasting work. He also taught art, and one of his students was Daniela Havlíčková.

Jiří Trnka's Career as an Animator

Starting in Animation

After art school, Trnka started a puppet theater in 1936. This group stopped when World War II began. During the war, he designed stage sets and illustrated books. After the war, he helped start an animation studio called Bratři v triku with Eduard Hofman and Jiří Brdečka. He began by making short 2D animated films. These included Zasadil dědek řepu (Grandfather Planted a Beet, 1945) and Zvířátka a Petrovští (Animals and Bandits, 1946). The latter won an award at the 1st Cannes Film Festival. He also made Pérák a SS (Springman and the SS, 1946), which was an anti-Nazi film. Another early film was Dárek (The Gift, 1946), which made fun of middle-class values.

Even with this early success, Trnka didn't feel completely happy with traditional animation. He felt it had too many steps and stopped him from being fully creative. In late 1946, he decided to try puppet animation. He started experimenting with the help of Břetislav Pojar.

Early Puppet Films (1947-1950)

His first big puppet film was Špalíček (The Czech Year, 1947). It was based on a book illustrated by Mikoláš Aleš. This film was made of six short parts. They showed legends and customs from his country, like Carnival and the legend of St. Procopius. The film got international attention for Czech animation and won awards at festivals, including the Venice Film Festival.

After 1948, Trnka's studios started getting money from the government. The next film was Cisaruv Slavik (The Emperor's Nightingale, 1949). This was based on a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Unlike the first film, this one had a single story. It even had real actors (two children) in the beginning. The puppets and sets looked very different, showing an idealized imperial China. Cisaruv Slavik also won many awards around the world.

In 1949, Trnka also made three short puppet films. These were Roman s basou (Story of a Bass), Certuv mlýn (The Devil's Mill), and Arie prerie (Song of the Prairie). Song of the Prairie was a funny western parody of the movie Stagecoach.

The next year, he made his third full-length puppet film, Bajaja (The Prince Bayaya, 1950). This film was based on two stories by Božena Němcová. It was set in a fantastical medieval time. It told the story of a farmer who becomes a knight, defeats a dragon, and wins the love of a princess.

Films of the 1950s

In the early 1950s, Trnka tried new animation techniques in his short films. He went back to cartoons with O zlaté rybce (The Golden Fish, 1951). He also animated shadow puppets in Dva mrazíci (1953). In Veselý Circus (The Merry Circus, 1951), he used a technique with two-dimensional paper cutouts that moved frame by frame. However, he didn't make any full-length puppet films for a while. He wanted to make a film about Don Quixote, but the government didn't approve.

In 1953, he released Staré pověsti české (Old Czech Legends, 1953). This was his fourth full-length movie. Like Špalíček, it had seven parts that told the legendary history of the Czech people. The film was based on a book by Alois Jirásek, a popular author among young Czechs. It had a strong patriotic feeling.

Continuing to explore Czech literature, Trnka adapted the anti-war story Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války (The Good Soldier Švejk) by Jaroslav Hašek in 1955. Other films had been made with actors, but Trnka was the first to make an animated version. For the puppets, Trnka used the style of the original book's illustrator, Josef Lada. This funny film has three parts, showing Švejk's adventures during World War I. It won several international awards.

In 1959, he made his last full-length film: Sen noci svatojánské (A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1959). This was based on one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays. Trnka had illustrated this book before, so he knew it well. In his film, he focused on the visuals and the music by Václav Trojan. He wanted the film to feel like a ballet and even hired a dancer to help. The puppets in this film were made of a special plastic, allowing for more detailed faces. Sen noci svatojánské was a huge international success and is seen as one of Trnka's best works.

Films of the 1960s

Grave of Jiří Trnka at the Central Cemetery in Pilsen

In the 1960s, Trnka made only a few short films. These films started to have a more serious or thoughtful tone. The first was Vášeň (The Passion, 1962), about a young man and his motorcycle. That same year, he made Kybernetická babička (Cyber Grandma). This film was a commentary on how technology was becoming more important in daily life. Archanděl Gabriel a paní Husa (The Archangel Gabriel and Ms Goose, 1964) was set in medieval Venice. It was based on a story from the Decameron by Boccaccio.

Trnka considered his most important work to be the short film Ruka (The Hand, 1965), which was his last film. Ruka is seen as a strong statement about artistic freedom. Many people believe Ruka was a protest against the rules placed on artists by the communist government in Czechoslovakia. Some even saw it as a hint of the Prague Spring, a time of political change. Although the film initially passed censorship, after Trnka's death, copies were taken away and banned from public viewing in Czechoslovakia for 20 years.

Jiří Trnka's Death

Jiří Trnka died in 1969 in Prague, at the age of 57. He passed away due to problems with his heart. His funeral, held in Pilsen, was a very large public event.

Jiří Trnka's Animation Techniques

Throughout his career, Trnka tried different animation methods. He used traditional cartoons in his first short films and even animated shadow puppets. But his most famous technique was stop-motion puppet animation. He would carve puppet characters and move them tiny bits at a time, taking a picture after each movement. He used detailed sets and special lighting to make his puppets expressive. He once said that puppet films have "unlimited possibilities" to express things.

Trnka himself didn't do much of the actual animating. His main focus was on writing the stories and making the puppets. His studio had a skilled team of animators. Břetislav Pojar, for example, was responsible for animating many of Trnka's films. Other important animators included Stanislav Latal Trnka, Jan Karpas, Sramek Bohuslav, Frantisek Zdenek Hrabar, and František Braun.

While puppet animation existed before Trnka, he really pushed this technique forward. He made it popular around the world. Unlike earlier animators, Trnka chose not to change the puppets' faces to show emotions. Instead, he kept their expressions the same. He created emotion by changing how the camera framed them and how the lighting hit them. According to Pojar, Trnka "always gave their eyes an indefinable look." He added that "with the simple turn of their heads, or with a change of lighting, rose smiling expressions, or unhappy, or dreamers." This made it seem like the puppets had hidden feelings.

Trnka also wrote the stories for his films. He often used works by Czech authors, especially those related to local folktales. He also adapted world classics by writers like Chekhov, Boccaccio, and Shakespeare. Music was also very important in Trnka's animated films. For all his feature films and many shorts, the music was composed by Vaclav Trojan.

Jiří Trnka's Filmography

Short Films

• Zasadil dědek řepu (My grandfather planted a beet, January 1, 1945). (Cartoon)
• Pérák a SS (Springman and the SS, December 20, 1946). (Cartoon)
• Dárek (The Gift, September 12, 1947). (Cartoon)
• Zvířátka a Petrovští (Animals and Bandits, September 12, 1947). (Cartoon)
• Román s basou (Story of a Bass, January 1, 1949).
• Čertův mlýn (The Devil's Mill, January 1, 1949).
• Árie prérie (Song of the Prairie, 1949).
• O zlaté rybce (The Golden Fish, January 1, 1951). (Cartoon)
• Veselý cirkus (The Merry Circus, January 1, 1951).
• Dva mrazíci (Two Little Frosts, January 1, 1954)
• Cirkus Hurvínek (Circus Hurvínek, January 1, 1955).
• Proč UNESCO? (Why UNESCO?, January 1, 1958). (Cartoon)
• Vášeň (The Passion, January 1, 1962).
• Kybernetická babička (The Cybernetic Grandma, January 1, 1962).
• Archanděl Gabriel a paní Husa (The Archangel Gabriel and Mrs. Goose, January 1, 1964).
• Ruka (The Hand, October 26, 1965).

Feature Films

• Špalíček (The Czech Year, December 13, 1947)
• Císařův slavík (The Emperor's Nightingale, April 15, 1949)
• Bajaja (Prince Bayaya, January 26, 1950)
• Staré pověsti české (Old Czech Legends, September 10, 1953)
• Dobrý voják Švejk (The Good Soldier Schweik, January 1, 1955)
• Sen noci svatojánské (A Midsummer Night's Dream, September 25, 1959)

Awards

• Cannes Short Film of the Year for Zvířátka a Petrovští (1946)

See also

In Spanish: Jiří Trnka para niños

• List of stop-motion films