
Bohdan Butenko

Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Right after graduation in 1955, he began working for the Nasza Księgarnia publishing house as art editor. Here, in 1956, his first books came out: Julian Tuwim’s Pan Maluśkiewicz i wieloryb and Erich Kästner’s The 35th of May. Since that time, about 250 books with the Butenko pinxit signature have appeared on the Polish market. Many of them have also been published abroad. He is the creator of well-known cartoon characters – Gapiszon and Kwapiszon of his own authorship, as well as Gucio and Cezar. He illustrated and graphically designed books by popular authors, including: Jan Brzechwa, Julian Tuwim, Joanna Kulmowa, Joanna Papuzińska, Adam Bahdaj, Wanda Chotomska, Wiktor Woroszylski, Edmund Niziurski, Kornel Makuszyński, Erich Kästner, Edward Lear, and others. It is not just children’s books that absorb his creative attention. He graphically designed the prose of Gustaw Morcinek, Bohumil Hrabal, and Hanna Krall, the poetry of Adam Asnyk and Tadeusz Kubiak, and many other publications addressed to adults. Butenko also deals with posters, typography in scientific books for the general public, and theatrical and television scenery, he creates layouts for magazines and projects for animated films, as well as original books that constitute an image-word unity. In Poland, his works have received the title of the Most Beautiful Book of the Year awarded by the Polish Association of Book Publishers and the title of the Book of the Year awarded by the Polish Section of IBBY many times. They are distinguished by jurors of many competitions. The List of Treasures of the Museum of Children’s Books in Warsaw, created since 2009, includes: Grzegorz Wasowski’s PKP czyli Poczet Królów Polskich and Gucio i Cezar – a comic book with Krystyna Boglar’s text. Selected international awards IBA (Leipzig) – awards for Edward Lear’s The Dong with a Luminous Nose (in 1965), L. Górski’s Krople na start (1971), and J. Brzechwa’s Pali się! (1977); Premio Europeo (Padua) for J. Duché’s The History of France (in 1976); IMGE (Istanbul) for I. Shah’s The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin (2003). The reissue of J. Tuwim’s Pan Maluśkiewicz i wieloryb was inscribed on the list of White Ravens 2010 of the Internationale Jugendbibliothel (Munich).