Jan Brychta was born on 11 May 1928 in Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). Trained in Prague, he worked as a painter, illustrator and animator, before fleeing the 1968 Soviet invasion and settling in London. He illustrated children’s books, worked extensively for the BBC and designed covers for Czech exile publisher, Rozmluvy. His paintings reflected his Czech Cubist roots. Jan Brychta died in London, England on 13 November 2013.
Artist and illustrator, Jan Brychta was born on 11 May 1928 in Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). He came from a family distinguished in the visual arts, particularly glassmaking, including Jaroslav Brychta, founder of the glassmaking school in Železný Brod, and the glass artist, Jaroslava Brychtová. From 1942–46 he attended the State Graphic School in Prague, continuing at the Academy of Applied Arts from 1946–51, where his teachers included Josef Kaplický and Antonín Pelc. Between 1950 and 1954 he worked as art editor at the Prague publishing house, Mladá fronta, subsequently pursuing a freelance career encompassing painting, graphic design, illustration, animation, and theatrical and film design. In 1953 he married the painter Ludmila (‘Lída’) Brychtová. His first solo exhibition of paintings took place in 1959 and his work was later exhibited in Britain, Germany, Italy and Canada.
During the 1950s and 1960s Brychta established himself as an illustrator of children’s books and school textbooks, including a geography and local-history textbook for fourth-year pupils, subsequently withdrawn from circulation after his emigration. He also worked for Czechoslovak Television, serving on its art committee from 1963–68, and for the Prague short-film studio, Krátký film. His screen credits ranged from animated adaptations of O. Henry stories to costume designs and occasional acting appearances. He contributed to the television series Klapzubova jedenáctka (1967) and designed costumes for Kinoautomat: Člověk a jeho dům (1967), the pioneering interactive cinema presentation. He wrote and directed his own circus-themed animated short, Šašci (1967). His animated-film work received international awards at Tours (1966), Oberhausen (1967), San Sebastián and Tehran (both 1968). Following the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, Brychta left with his wife and children, travelling through France, before settling in London.
In England he found work illustrating children’s books and designing animation for BBC children's programmes, beginning with Jackanory and subsequently contributing to Play School and Music Time. His association with the BBC lasted more than two decades. In 1969 he and Lída painted a large mural for the University of Surrey’s Senate House in Guildford, one of their earliest British commissions; it remained in place until at least 1996, although reportedly neglected and often concealed behind a curtain (Holm 1996, p. 18). The family settled in Finchley, north London, in 1970. In 1971 Brychta and his wife exhibited together at Perrins Art Gallery, Hampstead, while that September the Children’s Book Centre in Kensington displayed original illustrations for his newly published Jack and the Beanstalk (Franklin Watts), alongside examples of his work in other media. His illustrations for Gianni Rodari’s Mr. Cat in Business (1975) attracted less favourable criticism: reviewing the book in the Times Literary Supplement, Ann Thwaite considered its largely monochrome images too heavy and dark (Alborghetti 2025, p. 104). In 1978 he participated in the group exhibition Surrealism Unlimited 1968–1978 at the Camden Arts Centre, London.
Brychta continued to paint alongside his commercial illustration and television work. His pictures combined a lively sense of humour with the influence of Czech Cubism, repeatedly featuring clowns, acrobats and musicians in exuberantly coloured geometric compositions. Some were relief constructions, incorporating wooden pieces, while music itself influenced his choice of colour (Morley 1988; Warner 1988). A solo exhibition of oils was held at Burgh House, Hampstead, in 1988, followed by an exhibition of paintings and reliefs at Norwich’s Contact Gallery during the city’s Triennial Festival that October. Reviewing the latter, Jan Sutton praised Brychta's command of texture, tone and composition and compared his work to Lipchitz, early Picasso and Chagall (Sutton 1988, p. 16). Brychta was also the illustrator of David English’s popular cricket-themed Bunbury children’s books, including Rajbun’s Storyand Le Buns 24-hour Race (1989). By 1988 he had made an animated pilot for a planned television adaptation; The Bunbury Tails subsequently became an animated series in 1992.
Another important strand of Brychta's British career was his work for Rozmluvy, the Czech-language exile publishing house, founded in London by Alexander Tomský in 1982. Brychta became its principal artist, designing most of its book covers and illustrating several volumes (Babická 2016). He continued this work until Tomský returned to Prague in the early 1990s. After the collapse of communism, Brychta resumed visits to his homeland, where books bearing his illustrations appeared, including works by Zdeněk Mahler; he illustrated Slabikář dětských práv (2001) and designed the logo of the Czech children’s charity Nadace Naše dítě. In 2009 he exhibited alongside Lída, his son Alex and other family members in Brychtovi: 4 generace at the Mánes gallery in Prague, Alex Brychta becoming an acclaimed children's book illustrtor, following in his father's footsteps. . A 2011 edition of Josef Škvorecký’s Tankový prapor also featured his graphic work. Jan Brychta died in London, England on 13 November 2013. His work is not currently represented in UK public collections.
Irene Iacono
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Jan Brychta]
Publications related to [Jan Brychta] in the Ben Uri Library