The Exhibition “WATER – life, myth, movement. Water in the book illustration of V4 countries” offers a representative selection from the water-related works of the best contemporary Polish, Czech, Slovak and Hungarian illustrators.

The theme of water is a recurring topic of mythology and children’s literature: there is always a new world beyond the seas and rivers. Brave explorers embark on adventures to discover new worlds and heroes overcome various difficulties for vital water supplies. Sea creatures strive to turn into human beings while humans want to explore the secrets of underwater worlds. Our exhibition focuses on children’s books with water-related topics. The topic is a shared motive of illustrators from V4 countries. It connects the inhabitants of the V4 countries just like our rivers do and the colourful kingdom of underwater worlds comes to life through the imagination of our illustrators. Water appears in a mythical as well as in a realistic, everyday form in these tales but they all share the idea of artistic freedom without borders.

The exhibition is presented in cooperation with HUBBY – Hungarian Board on Books for Young People and MISZJE (Hungarian Literature Copyright Protection Association and Rights management). Its curator is Emese Révész, art historian.

Supported by the International Visegrad Fund.