By Alina Grishkevich
L’Art de l’illustration pour les enfants (Art Illustration for Children) is being hosted by the Belarusian State Academy of Arts and showcases works by Reinhard Michl from Germany and Marcelino Truong from France. Peter Dettmar, the Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy to Belarus, notes that the joint French-German project is another step in cultural collaboration between France and Germany, with similar events organised in Minsk for around 10 years.
(Art Illustration for Children) is being hosted by the Belarusian State Academy of Arts and showcases works by Reinhard Michl from Germany and Marcelino Truong from France. Peter Dettmar, the Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy to Belarus, notes that the joint French-German project is another step in cultural collaboration between France and Germany, with similar events organised in Minsk for around 10 years.Minsk is hosting other events featuring French and German illustrators. Reinhard Michl has conducted an artistic workshop for children at the N. Ostrovsky Central Children’s Library and at Minsk’s secondary school #56. Meanwhile, Marcelino Truong has organised a master class for children at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts, with both artists teaching a master class for Academy students.
The project has been organised by the diplomatic missions of France and Germany to Belarus, jointly with the Goethe Institute in Minsk. Undoubtedly, the art of European book illustration is well known all over the globe. Many European artist-illustrators (including those from Germany, France and Belarus) have won major contests of book art, particularly at the international biennale of book illustration, held in Bratislava and Belgrade.
Mr. Truong realised that drawing was his vocation while a cadet at naval college and having a degree in political sciences. As a self-taught artist, he illustrated Le Dragon de Bambou (The Bamboo Dragon) in 1991 — an album of comics. He was later awarded a prize at the Bologna International Fair of Children’s Books, for his illustration of Enfants Prostituйs en Asie. He is also involved in painting and animated films.
Before entering a private school for graphic painting, Reinhard Michl studied typesetting at a printing house. He graduated from the School of Arts and Crafts in Munich and received a diploma as a graphic designer before graduating from the Munich Academy of Fine Arts in ‘artistic education’. He is now one of the most famous children’s book illustrators in Germany and beyond.
