Czech writer and painter Josef Lada was born in 1887, in Hrusice. During his life, J. Lada painted around 15,000 pictures, illustrated books by 130 authors and 13 personal books, his illustrations have been printed in 81 magazines – and six local ones.

There are certain autobiographical features in J. Lada’s texts: some characters illustrate the author himself and his family members, and the action takes place in Hrusice. The illustrations in the book “The Good Soldier Švejk” by Jaroslav Hašek made J. Lada known all over the world. The book has been translated into 47 languages.

The youngest son of a poor shoemaker, J. Lada was born on December 17th in the little town of Hrusice, near Prague. When he was a baby, J. Lada fell from his cradle and jabbed his eye on one of his father’s tools. Some critics connect this fact with Lada’s special visual perspective, so typically apparent in his pictures. Despite his accident, he had a happy childhood. J. Lada grew up an honest and religious Czech. He was known for his talents in languages and his remarkable love for Christmas. The theme of Christmas is frequently portrayed in J. Lada’s pictures.

In 1905, in Prague, J. Lada received an apprenticeship in bookbinding and met his future wife, Hana Budejicka. They had two daughters – Alenka and Evicka.

In 1906, J. Lada illustrated a book for the first time. In the Art Nouveau style, the pictures resembled those of Alfons Mucha. In 1957, Lada rendered his last illustrations for a book of Czech fairy tales by Jan Drda.

In 1942, J. Lada wrote an incredible autobiographical book “The Chronicle of My Life”. Later, his eldest daughter Alena continued his work and wrote the book “My Father, Josef Lada”. The next most famous book of J. Lada, translated into 30 languages, is for children and called “Kocour Mikes”.

Czech mostly appreciates J. Lada for his Christmas cards. They survived the Soviet censorship and today are still very popular in the country.

As one of those writers-painters who mostly contributed to the glorification of the Czech name, J. Lada died on December 14, 1957, before his 70th birthday. Today in J. Lada’s villa in his native Hurice town, a personal J. Lada’s museum has been established.