The Czech Union of Cartoonists 1990–2010

The Czech Union of Cartoonists (ČUK) was established in Malostranská Beseda, Prague, on March 10, 1990. One hundred seventeen of the two hundred members came in order to create, for the first time in the Czech history, a society organizing artists involved in cartoon and caricature.

The initiative of the ČUK came from Ivan Hanousek who made such a suggestion already in 1968/1969. The first president was elected at the foundation plenary meeting: it was Miroslav Barták, Vladimír Jiránek and Jan Vyčítal were elected vice presidents. Břetislav Kovařík is currently the Union’s chairman, and Ivan Hanousek and Josef Cobra Kučera are vice chairmen The Czech Union of Cartoonists is a professional organization and a service centre for its members. The backbone of its life are the Cartoon Salons, and there have been 380 of them, and now they return to its place of origin with the member exhibition in Malostranská Beseda that is held on the twentieth anniversary of the Czech Union of Cartoonists. ČUK took part in putting on international exhibitions such as the Cartoon Biennial in Písek since 1995, Humorest in Hradec Králové since 1996 and also participated in organizing seven years of “Fór pro FOR” (A Joke for FOR) in Prague between 2002 and 2008. The Union presents ČUK’s Annual Awards to authors, as well as to institutions for merits in Czech cartoon and caricature and annually it holds exhibitions for its members who celebrate an important anniversary.

In 2005 ČUK published “Encyclopedia of the Czech Cartoonists” covering 85 authors. Every year it holds a competition under the title of “Gastronomic Cartoon Comedies” in Znojmo. The members may exchange their information through e-GAG, an electronic weekly that was established eight years ago, containing professional and informative articles, comments, discussions, surveys, profiles of renowned cartoonists and practical information such as exhibition, book or cartoon journal reviews, propositions and results of competitions, event calendar and tips for exhibitions.