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Moreover, the paper is supposed to be the culmination of an effort to per-
form a certain synthesis, or at least provide reference to a number of
manuscripts that fall under so called grey literature and that are not always
easily accessible. These are primarily notes from a lecture by K. Kuchař
from 1974, the author's thesis from 2003, as well as other works yet un-
published in English.
Last but not least, the paper should serve as the author's expression of
gratitude to prof. Karel Kuchař's work. Even though the author did not
have the possibility to meet Kuchař in person he considers him one of the
most prominent cartographers in the former Czechoslovakia. K. Kuchař
did not live to see the current times but all cartographic works, i.e. even the
current ones, show a certain potential to express aesthetic values. Today's
creators of maps should aim to provoke this potential.
Currently, the link between art and cartography is of a much ampler and
more complex nature. We deal with, for example, map art, where it is art-
ists themselves who create maps (see e.g. Wood and Krygier 2006), or
with merger of literary art and cartography: mapping literature (Piatti et al.
2009). A number of other projects perceive art and cartography as a com-
pact whole. Other projects stimulate creativity of authors, for example the
project Creative maps at the Charles University in Prague (Bláha et al.
2009). However, this paper intentionally focuses primarily on the concept
of artistic means of expression as captured by Univ. Prof. Karel Kuchař
and as was usual at the times when the Aesthetics of Map Production
lecture was delivered.
“Premature and unexpected passing away did not let him ( K. Kuchař )
summarize the knowledge and experience in the aesthetics of cartographic
production as he planned, which would surely present a culmination of his
activity in the field of cartographic production“ (Medková 1976). It makes
it even more gratifying to carry on his legacy.
Acknowledgment
This paper was enabled by the GA UK grant and is part of the GA UK project no. 249/2006/B-
GEO/PrF “Application of Aesthetics in Visualisation Methods of Cartography ”.
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