We invite you on an extraordinary journey through the land of fairy tales of Stanisław Spaniński (1904-1975), painter, draughtsman and architect. A member of the famous Warsaw-based Spanish family, which ran a world-renowned shoemaking company until 1944, he is primarily associated with a series of illustrations to great epics and ancient myths - the Odyssey, the Aeneid, Sumerian Legends. The exhibition at the Museum of Literature, on the other hand, presents the least known but fascinating part of his oeuvre - illustrations to fairy tales and stories for the youngest.

The exhibition has been prepared primarily with the youngest and very young audiences in mind. The exhibition will reveal illustrations created in the late 1940s and early 1950s, most of which have not yet been published in book editions. Behind many of them are narratives that are not fully known and to which you can add your own ending. So we will have a unique opportunity to explore Stanislaw Spanish's wonderful sense of humour and the rich, varied style of his sketches and drawings, while letting our own imagination run wild.

Led by Mr Cricket, we will enter a world in which characters from Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina and Alexander Pushkin's The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fisherman meet with the cunning wolf and reckless goats from Jan Grabowski's book, the rambunctious Wodziczek, embarking on an expedition into the socialist realist world, and the elegant goat tempted by a capon drying on a rope. At the exhibition, we will not only learn the stories of these colourful characters, but will also explore the very mechanisms of storytelling and the creation of fairy tale narratives using illustrations. We will put much of the activity in your hands. You will be able to create your own versions of the fairy tale characters from the Spanish illustrations, put them together according to your own imagination, and change their fates and turns of adventure.

Our fairytale universe will not be limited to the exhibition space itself! Equipped with a special children's guide map, together with Mr Cricket we will delve into the nooks and crannies of the Museum and find out what other fairytale creatures might be hiding there. On top of that, we will invite you to family workshops, guided tours for younger and older audiences and meetings around the Stanislas Spaniard. Visit the Museum of Literature this summer!

STANISŁAW HISZPAŃSKI (1904-1975)
Stanisław Hiszpański was born into the famous Spanish family, which ran a renowned shoemaker's shop in Warsaw for more than a century - from 1838 to 1944. He was an heir and employee of the family business, but his real passions were art, aviation and scouting.

He graduated in architecture from the Warsaw University of Technology. Since the pre-war period, he had been developing his work as a painter, graphic artist and draughtsman. He was an expert on Mediterranean and Slavic culture and took part in archaeological missions. He illustrated great works of ancient literature - The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Epic of Gilgamesh - as well as religious works, historical novels and popular science books. He cooperated, among others, with the publishing houses Nasza Księgarnia, Książka i Wiedza, Ars Christiana, Sport i Turystyka, Znak. In addition, he was a scoutmaster, mountaineer, skiing and canoeing instructor and promoter of aviation.

He also made a fine record as a military officer. In 1918, as a 14-year-old, he tried to enlist in the Legions, but was expelled from them because he was too young. In 1920, he fought in the Polish-Soviet War, in defence of Vilnius and Warsaw. An aviation enthusiast, in 1930 he became one of the first graduates of the Air Force Reserve Officer Cadet School in Dęblin. He took part in the defensive war of 1939, and was taken prisoner by the Germans. In the POW camp - Oflag II C in Woldenberg, he was the co-founder and artistic director of an experimental puppet theatre. After the war, working at the Military Research and Publishing Institute, he compiled, among other things, a Short Dictionary of Aviation Terms. He ended his military career with the rank of major.

Stanisław Hiszpański's paintings, prints and drawings were presented at several dozen individual exhibitions, including the Club of Catholic Intelligentsia in Warsaw (1961, 1964, 1965), the Vistula River Museum in Kazimierz Dolny (1974), the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw (1977), the Zachęta National Museum in Warsaw (1979), the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw (1988) and the National Museum in Gdańsk (1998), as well as at collective exhibitions. His works are in the collections of, among others, the National Library in Warsaw, the Nadwiślańskie Museum in Kazimierz Dolny, the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw and the District Museum in Sandomierz.