Mirko Hanák (1921-1971) was a Czechoslovakian illustrator and printer this is his illustration for Little Red from a collection of fairy tales, 'Europaische Marchen' published in 1982 by Altberliner Verlag.
Mirko Hanák was born on June 26, 1921, in what is now the city of Martin in Slovakia, then known as Turčiansky Svätý Martin. His father was a sawmill manager. Hanák studied for two years at the School of Art in Zlín from 1940 to 1942. Afterward, as part of the 'generation of 1921,' he was conscripted into the Nazi forced labor system and sent to a factory in Kapfenberg, Austria. In Christmas 1944 he escaped from the factory along with his painter friend, Čestmír Kafka.
After the war Mirko enrolled at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. His family settled in Bukovice, near Jeseník, the Jeseníky Mountains became a primary source of inspiration for his art.
Hanák's style was heavily influenced by modern Chinese painting, particularly its ink painting tradition. Exhibitions of Chinese art, at this time were organised as part of a cultural collaboration between the People's Republic of China and Czechoslovakia.
Hanák developed a highly distinctive visual language by balancing watercolor washes flowing across a wet surface with precise ink details- like eyes,feathers, and fur -added after the paper had dried.
