Marlenka Stupica


Marlenka Stupica is a Slovene children's book illustrator. She has illustrated over one hundred books for children and is considered one of the top Slovene illustrators.

Life and work

Stupica was born in Maribor in 1927. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana where she graduated in 1950. At that time, she also travelled across numerous European countries. She illustrated already as a student. Overall, she has illustrated over one hundred children's books in her life, and worked also as a commercial designer and a puppet scenographer. She exhibited in Tokyo, Bratislava, Bologne, and Rome. Her favourite motifs have been landscape, water, trees and sky. Among the others, she has illustrated fairy tales by Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Astrid Lindgren, and Ela Peroci. Her daughter Marija Lucija Stupica was also an acclaimed illustrator.

Awards

In 1972, Stupica won the Prešeren Foundation Award for her achievements in children's book illustration. She also won the Levstik Award for her illustrations a record six times, in 1950, 1952, 1954, 1959, 1960 and 1970, as well as the same award for lifetime achievement in illustration in 1999. In 2013, she was also bestowed the Prešeren Award for lifetime achievement.