Hermína Týrlová

Biography

At eleven Hermína found herself in an orphanage: her mother had died after her father, who had been killed seven years earlier when a mine collapsed on him. She was born on 11 December 1900 in Březové Hory, now part of the town of Příbram. Her father was a miner who also liked woodcarving and made small figures for the children; to my mind, her later material grew out of those toys. She was the youngest of five children.

At fifteen Týrlová was already living in Prague, performing as a dancer and actress at the Uranie theatre. She tried her hand at writing poems and drew for children’s magazines.

At the theatre she met Karel Dodal, who worked there as a painter and later became one of the first Czech animators. Under his guidance she learned to draw and to do phase drawings (the intermediate stages of movement). From the mid-1920s Dodal made advertising films at the Prague studio Elekta Journal; Týrlová first helped him, then got a job at the same studio. In 1928 they married and made their first joint cartoon, “The Enamoured Waterman” (Zamilovaný vodník), from her idea; only a fragment of it survives. Next came “Bimbo’s Sad Adventure”, influenced by the American series “Out of the Inkwell”, and the film “Tommy and the Mermaid”, which is considered lost. Their marriage broke down in 1932 and Týrlová went back to her maiden name, but she kept working with Dodal. Around 1933–1934 Dodal and his second wife, Irena, founded the studio IRE Film, where they made colour cartoons and advertisements. Týrlová worked there as a draughtswoman, a set designer and a lead animator. Here she first animated puppets: at the start of the film “Všudybylovo dobrodružství” and in the advertising film “The Lantern’s Secret” (Tajemství lucerny), released in 1938. Later, by her own account, those years were the hardest of her life. In 1939 Dodal emigrated; she stayed in the country and worked as an illustrator for the children’s magazine Punťa.

In 1941–1942 she moved to Zlín, to the Bata film studio, and stayed there for the rest of her life. Her first puppet film, “Ferda the Ant” (Ferda Mravenec), based on the books of Ondřej Sekora, came out in 1943–1944. She made the hero’s puppet almost entirely herself. Sekora was displeased with the departures from his drawings, while Týrlová feared that the puppet would sway and limit its movement, so the figure was remade several times. The film was a success, and the original puppet is now on display in the Toy Museum in Figueres.

Her next work, “The Christmas Dream”, burned almost finished in a fire at the Zlín studios. While Týrlová was in hospital, the film was reshot by Karel Zeman, who had assisted her. Relations between them stayed cool for decades afterwards.

The postwar years brought her international awards. “Revolt of the Toys” (1946, or 1947 by other accounts), made with František Sádek, combined animation with live actors. The film was honoured at festivals in Brussels and Venice. In 1945 Týrlová joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia; in 1968 she signed the manifesto “Two Thousand Words”, but did not leave the party. Next came “Lullaby” (Ukolébavka, 1947–1948) and Czech fairy tales: “The Tale of the Dragon”, “Goldilocks” (Zlatovláska) and “Míček Flíček”. In the 1950s the popularity of Jiří Trnka and Zeman cast a heavy shadow over her, and critics reproached her for simplicity. The turning point was the film “A Knot in the Handkerchief” (Uzel na kapesníku, 1958), which won a prize at the festival in Mar del Plata. With Josef Pinkava she made “The Lost Doll” (1959) and “The Curious Letters” (1961).

In the 1960s Týrlová began to film with everyday objects and fabric: “Two Balls of Yarn” (1962), “The Ball” (1963), “The Woollen Fairy Tale” (1964), “The Little Blue Apron” (1965). Woollen threads and knitted figures became full-fledged characters in her films. For “The Snowman” (1966) she received the Lion of San Marco at the Venice festival, and for “The Star of Bethlehem” (1969) the Golden Shell at San Sebastián. She also received the State Prize of Czechoslovakia (1952), the title of Merited Artist (1961 by one account) and that of National Artist (1971).

In the early 1970s she made the five-part television series “The Stories of the Blue-Eyed Cat” for television, and in 1977–1978 she returned to Ferda in a four-part series. Her last film, “Fairy Tale on a Washing Line” (Pohádka na šňůře), came out in 1986, when she was 85. She lived in a small house next to the studio, where she ran her own puppet film unit. She did not marry again and had no children. She died in Zlín on 3 May 1993. She is buried in the forest cemetery in Zlín; a figure from “Lullaby” is carved on the gravestone.