A representative
of the Polish school of illustration.
He was born on February 8, 1931 in Bydgoszcz, and died on October 14, 2019. Since 1939, he lived and worked in Warsaw, where he studied first at the State Higher School of Fine Arts, and later, after the merger of the two Warsaw universities, at the Academy of Fine Arts . He earned his diploma in 1955 in the studio of Jan Marcin Szancer. Bohdan Butenko has illustrated books by Polish and foreign writers since 1956. He cooperated with many publications for children and young people: “Misie”, “Płomyczek”, “Płomyk”, “Świerszczyk” or “Świat Młodych”. He is also the author of his own books. The best known are: the series of adventures of Kwapiszon published by Nasza Księgarnia, “Pierwszy! Second!!! Third!!!” (KAW, 1975), “Pyś, czyli wiadukt nad chaszchami” (Literatura, 1998), “Gapiszon the Snowman” (Aesop, 2001), “Gapiszon and the Crocodile” (Aesop, 2003), “It’s Me, Gapiszon”(Egmont, 2003), “Snow White” (Nasza Księgarnia, 2008). Based on the adventures of Gapiszon, a TV series was made in 1964.
Gapiszon, Butenko’s favorite character, was brought to life on November 5, 1958. At first he was drawn by the illustrator “live” on television on easily broken glass panels. Seven years later, the character found its way onto the pages of the children’s magazine “WASH”. Gapiszon is a preschooler wearing a beret with an antenna, later replaced by a cap with a pom-pom. A total of seven collections of his adventures were published. The first booklets, published by Ruch Publishing House, appeared in 1970. They were: “Gapiszon w tarapatach”, “Gapiszonowe to i owo “and “Gapiszon’s Ideas”. His adventures were printed in Lithuania, Hungary, East Germany and Bulgaria. In the late 1960s, other characters were created for “Świerszczyk” – the hippopotamus Gucio and the dog Caesar. Butenko drew these characters for Krystyna Boglar’s script. A total of 16 comic books with their adventures were published. Based on them, Polish TV also produced 10 episodes of a puppet bedtime show, for which Butenko created the scenery. Addressed to older children, Kwapiszon is the main character of a comic series by Butenko published in 1976-1981. The series about Kwapiszon is distinguished by a peculiar technique of production: the boards of the comic consist of black-and-white photos and photomontages, with characters and objects drawn on their background.
The way Butenko draws is very characteristic and reminiscent of children’s drawings – the characters are flat, maximally simplified, drawn with a single thick line, shown mostly only in profile. Spoken issues are not placed in ‘balloons’. – A dotted trail leads to the right character, and this is a method that no other cartoonist uses,” writes Tomasz Marciniak in the study “Bohdan Butenko and His Work”.Butenko is also sparing with colors and uses mostly primary colors .
Bohdan Butenko has earned fully deserved status as a classic of the genre, and his graphic designs are now educating a third generation of readers aesthetically!
His book titled Mr. Maluskevich and the Whale is mostly translated into other languages . It has also been published in Dutch .
Bohdan Butenko was a perfectionist and a conscious creator who elevated the printing technique, to an art. “He designs every volume, starting with the cover and ending with details such as the editorial footer – comparing the design process to weaving a sweater, he says with his usual sense of humor: ‘You have to knit so that it doesn’t ripple. Thanks to his aesthetic sense and attention to detail, books designed by Bohdan Butenko become artistic objects, in which all the elements used – bookbinding, typography, drawing, photography – co-create a multi-level visual narrative . The uniqueness of Butenko’s style is not only the masterful choice of illustrations or typeface, but also the ability, rare among illustrators of that period, to find such polygraphic solutions to make the book interesting and innovative .
Butenko is one of the most honored Polish illustrators. The books he illustrated received awards and prizes seven times in the PTWK competition for the Most Beautiful Book of the Year. In 1979, he was twice awarded the prize of the National Film Festival for Children and Young People “Silver Goats” for “Good Morning!” and “The Story of One Film.” In 1990, the book “About Felk, Wildcat and Mammoth” received the title of Book of the Year of the Polish Section of IBBY, and “Grandma Brygida’s crazy journey to Krakow” received a BESTSELLER in 2003.
Among his foreign honors, it is worth mentioning the Leipzig IBA Prize, which he received three times: for his illustrations and design of the book “Dong, who has a shining nose “by E. Lear (1965), for “Drops to Start” by L. Gorski (1971) and for “Burn!” by J. Brzechko. J. Brzechwa. In 1976 he was awarded the Premio Europeo in Padua for his illustrations for the book “The Whole Life of Marianne” by J. Duche. In 2003 in Istanbul, he was awarded the IMGE prize for his illustrations for “The exploits of the incomparable hodja Nasreddin” by I. Shah.
Bohdan Butenko has also received 12 lifetime achievement awards, including the award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polsk Rebirth.
