page_title: Svatopluk Pitra
section_title: Animated film designer 1957–1963
hierarchical_section_title: Svatopluk Pitra / Animated film designer 1957–1963
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Svatopluk Pitra, loutky pro animovaný film režiséra Stanislava Látala Plivník dlaždiče Housky, 1961.
context_page_description: Svatopluk Pitra was a Czech graphic designer, illustrator, cartoonist, designer of animated films and painter. He graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. At first he became known as a cartoonist. He began working on animated films in the late 1950s. In collaboration with directors such as Břetislav Pojar, Jiří Brdečka and Stanislav Látal, he designed cartoon and puppet films. In 1963 Pitra emigrated to Canada. He lived in the USA since the mid-1960s.
context_section_description: Pitra's first animated films were made at the advertising business Propag, where he designed puppets for a piece by director Josef Kluge on family shopping at department stores Vánoce (Christmas) (1957). He also drew and self-directed Atomic Century (Timely Purchase of Fuel) (1957). He is also listed as designer and director for the advertising pieces An Idea from Heaven (1957) a That's Not How It's Done (1957), which promoted the advantages of newly introduced self-service retail.
  Of the four-part series Samoobsluha it is likely that only Who Asks for What has been preserved. The illustrated anecdotes in it were drawn by Pitra's colleague Jaroslav Malák, core cartoonist for Dikobraz and one of the founders of the association of caricaturists Polylegran.
  In 1959 Pitra took part in the film experiment Tucet mých tatínků, in which director Eduard Hofman used the work of  thirteen different artists. For this "tragic cartoon", Pitra designed the character of the photographer dad. Aside from the director Eduard Hofman, himself, who drew the character of the policeman, the artists were, Jiří Brdečka (scuba diver), František Freiwillig (ship's captain), Vladimír Hlavatý (lifeguard), Adolf Hoffmeister (scientist), Ota Janeček (drummer), Josef Kábrt (opera singer), Jaroslav Kándl (painter), Vladimír Lehký (student), Kamil Lhoták (pilot), Jaroslav Malák (hairdresser) a Zdeněk Miler (little girl and mother).
  For the satirical cartoon Tři muži (1959) by director Vladimír Lehký he contributed extremely simplified drawings reminiscent of the figures from the cartoons of Émile Cohl. This morality play on the consequences of irresponsible behaviour received an award at the International Festival in Venice. Pitra did not however receive the travel permit that would allow him to receive the prize in person.
  Pitra designed 2D and 3D puppets for director  Břetislav Pojar Jak zaříditi byt (How to Furnish a Flat) (1959). In the short introduction the piece amusingly summarises the prehistory and history of furniture culture, subsequently promoting rational placement of modern home furnishings.
  Pitra also took part as a designer in Břetislav Pojar and Jiří Brdečka movie Sláva (Fame) (1959). The story about a chimney that did not smoke just for its own sake, but actually artistically, was situated in a Western-style major city that was supposed to lie far beyond the borders of socialist Czechoslovakia, but can be read as an illustration of the famous proverb about the impermanence of every worldly glory.
  In comparison with the highly ironic caricatures of snobbish consumers of artistic sensations, the puppets that he designed for Bohuslav Šrámek's animated film  Pštros (Ostrich) (1960), were much more benevolent. Also pleasantly rounded were the figures of the puppet film Plivník dlaždiče Housky (1961), based on the eponymous story by Karel Michal and filmed by director Stanislav Látal. The disposition of the individual characters was rounded out inimitably by the voice of Rudolf Deyl, jr., who convincingly portrayed Houska's indecisive resignation, the self-satisfied pedantry of the enterprise officials, and the chicken-imp's maniacal energy. Pitra's artistic design for the film  Cecilie 470 (1961), which director Jan Karpaš filmed based on the story by Miloš Macourek, was characterised by an elegant painting of stylish "Brussels" graphics. Pitra used a similar artistic concept in the animated film by director Bohuslava Šrámka Blecha (Flea) (1961) about an insignificant creature obsessed with a megalomaniacal delusion.
  Svatopluk Pitra, who at the time was quite overworked, suffered a legitimate feeling of insufficient appreciation. He bore the contrast between his abilities and their pitiful financial reward just as hard as his exhausting and vain search for his own studio. After the propaganda piece Tři muži na rybách (Three Men Fishing) (1962), pointing out the advantages of working in shifts, the last film Pitra worked on in Czechoslovakia was an awareness piece by director and screenwriter Jiří Brdečka Tak na to? (So Shall We?). When the i
caption: Svatopluk Pitra, puppets for director Stanislav Látal's animated film Plivník dlaždiče Housky (Tile-Setter Houska's Chicken-Imp), 1961.
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