Untitled [Allegorical Map of Freedom and Oppression]
- Title:
- Untitled [Allegorical Map of Freedom and Oppression]
- Alternate Title:
- Untitled [Allegorical Map of Freedom and Oppression]
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Sís, Peter
- Date:
- 2007
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2414.02
- File Name:
- PJM_2414_02.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1960 - Present
- Subject:
- Allegorical
Communism & Cold War
Pictorial
Unusual Graphics/Text - Measurement:
- 30 x 46 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This is an illustration from an autobiographical children’s book by Peter Sis, who grew up in Czechoslovakia during the height of the Cold War. Sis was born in 1949, and his artistic talent was evident at an early age. He was working in the U.S. on a documentary in 1984 when he was ordered back, but he refused to return. He was granted asylum, became a citizen in 1988, and has achieved broad success and professional distinction as an illustrator, particularly of children’s books.
Almost 20 years after the Velvet Revolution restored democracy in his homeland, Sis wrote the story of his childhood: “The Wall, Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain.” In an Afterword, Sis explains that it was “hard to convince” his American children that the Czech Republic “was ever a dark place full of fear, suspicion, and lies . . . and since I have always drawn everything, I have tried to draw my life - before America - for them.”
The Wall is almost entirely a work of illustration, with just a few words on most pages to move the story along. It begins, “As long as he could remember, he had loved to draw.” With poignant pictures, Sis shows his growing awareness as a child of the oppressive life behind the Iron Curtain. He suffers not only the limitations on what and when and how he could draw, but the broader totalitarian restrictions on freedom of speech and travel. He illustrates the joys of the Prague Spring of 1968 and the despair that followed.
As things got worse, “He dreamed of being free, Wild dreams,” illustrated by numerous notions of escape: ski jumping over the wall, vaulting it, tunneling under it. He finally settles on flying over the wall riding a bicycle with multicolored wings (ID #2414.01), illuminated by a searchlight and the headlights of the secret police.
The most striking of Sis’s illustrations is the allegorical map of freedom and oppression, the little boy’s view of the land below as he soars over the wall on his bicycle (ID #2414.02). See Kummerling-Meibauer 2017, 86-87. Behind him is a land in grey shadow whose geographic features tell the story of life behind the Iron Curtain: Injustice, Corruption, Lies, Terror. Ahead of him, in golden sunlight, is a land of Freedom, Truth, Dignity, Honor - and Art. Far away, at the top right, is the skyline of New York with the Statue of Liberty.
Finally, “Sometimes dreams come true. On November 9, 1989, the wall fell.” This signal event is illustrated by a view of the wall being dismantled by the people as the boy on the bicycle rides above. The sky is filled with a map of Europe, each of the newly free nations marked by a bright star (ID #2414.03).
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- Sís, Peter. 2007. The Wall. Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain. New York: Frances Foster Books.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.