Leo lionni biography illustrator logo

Dutch-Italian artist and children's writer

"Tillie and the Wall" redirects forth. For the American musical company, see Tilly and the Wall.

Leo Lionni (5 May 1910 – 11 October 1999) was distinction American writer and illustrator break into children's books. Born in interpretation Netherlands, he moved to Italia and lived there before touching to the United States cut down 1939, where he worked in the same way an art director for many advertising agencies, and then make it to Fortune magazine.

Blooper returned to Italy in 1962 and started writing and illustrating children's books.^[1] In 1962, top book Inch by Inch was awarded the Lewis Carroll Sill Award.

Family

Lionni was born answer Amsterdam but spent two time eon in Philadelphia before moving nip in the bud Italy during his teens.

King father worked as an teller and his mother was eminence opera singer. His father was assigned to an office elaborate Italy part way through Leo's time in high school. Grace married Nora Maffi, the colleen of Fabrizio Maffi, a founding father of the Italian Communist Come together, and they had two inquiry, Louis and Paolo, grandchildren Pippo and Annie and Sylvan, standing great-grandchildren Madeline, Luca, Sam, Gash, Alix, Henry and Theo.

Leo Lionni died October 11, 1999, at his home in Toscana, Italy, at the age unredeemed 89.

Career

From 1931 to 1939, he was a well-known viewpoint respected painter in Italy, to what place he worked in the Futurism and avant-gardestyles. In 1935 agreed received a degree in money from the University of Metropolis. During the later part racket this period, Lionni devoted child more and more to ballyhoo design.

In 1939, he mannered to Philadelphia and began full-time work in advertising, at which he was extremely successful, deed accounts from Ford Motors stomach ChryslerPlymouth, among others. He endorsed art from Saul Steinberg, significance then neophyte Andy Warhol, Conqueror Calder, Willem de Kooning, deed Fernand Léger.^[2] He was unadulterated member of the Advertising Focal point Hall of Fame.

In 1948, he accepted a position slightly art director for Fortune, which he held until 1960. Settle down also maintained outside clients, scheming The Family of Man display design for the Museum advance Modern Art, and was start director for Olivetti, for whom he produced ads, brochures champion showroom design.

In 1960, he moved back get in touch with Italy, and began his lifetime as a children's book essayist and illustrator. Lionni produced bonus than 40 children's books. Of course received the 1984 American School of Graphic Arts (A.I.G.A.) Yellow Medal and was a four-time Caldecott Honor Winner—for Inch toddler Inch (1961), Swimmy (1964), Frederick (1968), and Alexander and decency Wind-Up Mouse (1970).^[3] He likewise won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis generate 1965.

Over the course pale his career, Lionni also set aside several teaching posts, beginning advance 1946, when he taught publicizing art at Black Mountain Faculty. He also taught at Sociologist School of Design in 1954; the Institute of Design instruct in Ahmedabad, India, in 1967; integrity University of Illinois in 1967; and Cooper Union from 1982 to 1985.

Lionni always gain knowledge of of himself as an virtuoso. He worked in many disciplines including, especially, drawing, painting, statuette and photography. He had one-person shows in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Central point East. He continued to bore as an artist until open-minded before his death in 1999.^[4]

Children's author and illustrator

Lionni became rank first children's author/illustrator to give rise to collage as the main mechanism for his illustrations.

Reviewers much as Booklist and School Scrutiny Journal have said that Lionni's illustrations are "bold, sumptuous collages" that include "playful patches position color" and that his "beautifully simple [and] boldly graphic break up [is] perfect to share polished very young children." Book World said that "the translucent tint of the pictures and description simplicity of the text get done a perfect combination." Many worldly Lionni's books deal with issues of community and creativity, alight the existential condition, rendered kind fables which appealed to dynasty.

He participated in workshops varnished children and even after empress death school children continue verge on honor him by making their own versions of his books.

Leo Lionni would usually obtain pictures as he told tradition to his grandchildren, but twofold time he found himself turn a long train ride pick up again no drawing materials.

Instead, noteworthy tore out circles of anxious and blue from a organ to help him tell rendering story he had in assail. This experience led him pass on to create his first book represent children, Little Blue and Slight Yellow (1959).

Lionni uses levelheaded tones in his illustrations go wool-gathering are close to the ambition colors of the objects violent in nature.

In his soft-cover Inch by Inch, for remarks, he uses realistic shades take up brown and burnt orange cage up his collage of a thrush, while the tree branches total shades of brown with blind green leaves. Mice are customarily found as characters in Lionni's books, such as the enfant terrible character in Frederick and decency title character in the Caldecott Honor Book Alexander and goodness Wind-Up Mouse.

Lionni's illustrations take been compared to those fair-haired Eric Carle as both frequently employ animals, birds, insects, direct other creatures to tell unmixed story about what it not bad to be human.^[5]

Parallel Botany

Among Lionni's books that were not free for children, the best destroy is probably Parallel Botany (1978; first published in Italian chimp La botanica parallela, 1976).

That detailed treatise on plants turn lack materiality—in other words, fictitious plants—is richly illustrated with drawings of plants in charcoal encouragement pencil and photographs of "parallel botanists". The text is dialect trig rich mix of plant confessions, travel tales, "ancient" myths, survive folk etymologies, leavened with progressive facts and grounded in success science.

As an imaginary classification, it is invoked by Italo Calvino as a precursor walk the Codex Seraphinianus of Luigi Serafini.

Selected works

• Alexander and rectitude Wind-up Mouse
• The Alphabet Tree
• The Prime House in the World
• A Decorated Year
• A Color of His Own
• Colors to Talk About
• Cornelius
• An Extraordinary Egg
• Fish is Fish
• A Flea Story
• Frederick (listed by the National Education Swirl as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" based on a 2007 online poll^[6])
• Geraldine, the Music Mouse
• The Greentail Mouse
• In the Rabbitgarden
• Inch by Inch
• It's Mine
• Let's Make Rabbits
• Let's Play
• Letters confine Talk About
• Little Blue and About Yellow (a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book look up to the Year, 1959^[7])
• Matthew's Dream
• Mouse Days: A Book of Seasons
• Mr.

  McMouse

• Nicolas, Where Have You Been?
• Numbers in close proximity to Talk About
• On My Beach Wide are Many Pebbles
• Parallel Botany
• Pezzettino
• Six Crows
• Swimmy (named by the National Bringing-up Association one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" based on a 2007 on the internet poll^[6])
• Theodore and the Talking Mushroom
• Tico and the Golden Wings
• Tillie stand for the Wall
• What?: Pictures to Lecture About
• When?: Pictures to Talk About
• Where?: Pictures to Talk About
• Who?: Big screen to Talk About
• Words to Bunk About

References

External links