Leo leonni biography

Dutch-Italian artist and children's writer

"Tillie and the Wall" redirects not far from. For the American musical heap, see Tilly and the Wall.

Leo Lionni (5 May 1910 – 11 October 1999) was invent American writer and illustrator nigh on children's books. Born in honourableness Netherlands, he moved to Italia and lived there before still to the United States break off 1939, where he worked thanks to an art director for a number of advertising agencies, and then engage Fortune magazine.

He returned submit Italy in 1962 and afoot writing and illustrating children's books.^[1] In 1962, his book Inch by Inch was awarded leadership Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.

Family

Lionni was born in Amsterdam on the contrary spent two years in City before moving to Italy by way of his teens.

His father stilted as an accountant and consummate mother was an opera songster. His father was assigned tell somebody to an office in Italy share way through Leo's time behave high school. He married Nora Maffi, the daughter of Fabrizio Maffi, a founder of character Italian Communist Party, and they had two sons, Louis fairy story Paolo, grandchildren Pippo and Annie and Sylvan, and great-grandchildren Madeline, Luca, Sam, Nick, Alix, Speechifier and Theo.

Leo Lionni suitably October 11, 1999, at fulfil home in Tuscany, Italy, parallel with the ground the age of 89.

Career

From 1931 to 1939, he was a well-known and respected puma in Italy, where he pretentious in the Futurism and avant-gardestyles. In 1935 he received topping degree in economics from character University of Genoa.

During righteousness later part of this term, Lionni devoted himself more instruction more to advertising design.

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In 1939, he moved give confidence Philadelphia and began full-time travail in advertising, at which illegal was extremely successful, acquiring money from Ford Motors and ChryslerPlymouth, among others. He commissioned cover from Saul Steinberg, the proliferate neophyte Andy Warhol, Alexander Sculpturer, Willem de Kooning, and Fernand Léger.^[2] He was a party of the Advertising Art Entry of Fame.

In 1948, subside accepted a position as quick director for Fortune, which agreed held until 1960. He as well maintained outside clients, designing Honourableness Family of Man catalogue contemplate for the Museum of Today's Art, and was design inspector for Olivetti, for whom blooper produced ads, brochures and store design.

In 1960, he struck back to Italy, and began his career as a lowranking book author and illustrator. Lionni produced more than 40 trainee books. He received the 1984 American Institute of Graphic School of dance (A.I.G.A.) Gold Medal and was a four-time Caldecott Honor Winner—for Inch by Inch (1961), Swimmy (1964), Frederick (1968), and Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse (1970).^[3] He also won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1965.

Over probity course of his career, Lionni also held several teaching posts, beginning in 1946, when do something taught advertising art at Smoky Mountain College. He also unskilled at Parsons School of Plan in 1954; the Institute pay the bill Design in Ahmedabad, India, pile 1967; the University of Algonquin in 1967; and Cooper Wholeness accord from 1982 to 1985.

Lionni always thought of himself despite the fact that an artist. He worked barge in many disciplines including, especially, traction, painting, sculpture and photography. Significant had one-man shows in depiction United States, Europe, Asia contemporary the Middle East. He protracted to work as an organizer until just before his dying in 1999.^[4]

Children's author and illustrator

Lionni became the first children's author/illustrator to use collage as significance main medium for his illustrations.

Reviewers such as Booklist dominant School Library Journal have aforementioned that Lionni's illustrations are "bold, sumptuous collages" that include "playful patches of color" and lapse his "beautifully simple [and] transparently graphic art [is] perfect relax share with very young children." Book World said that "the translucent color of the flicks and the simplicity of illustriousness text make a perfect combination." Many of Lionni's books give out with issues of community topmost creativity, and the existential stipulation, rendered as fables which appealed to children.

He participated access workshops with children and unchanging after his death school breed continue to honor him make wet making their own versions discover his books.

Leo Lionni would usually draw pictures as recognized told stories to his grandchildren, but one time he foundation himself on a long enter by force ride with no drawing reserves.

Instead, he tore out helix of yellow and blue disseminate a magazine to help him tell the story he difficult to understand in mind. This experience granted him to create his labour book for children, Little Sad and Little Yellow (1959).

Lionni uses earth tones in monarch illustrations that are close stay with the actual colors of probity objects found in nature.

Predicament his book Inch by Inch, for example, he uses matter-of-fact shades of brown and burnt-out orange in his collage remember a robin, while the bush branches are shades of brownness with dark green leaves. Mice are consistently found as signs in Lionni's books, such sort the star character in Frederick and the title character value the Caldecott Honor Book Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse.

Lionni's illustrations have been compared reduce those of Eric Carle hoot both often employ animals, liable, insects, and other creatures in a jiffy tell a story about what it is to be human.^[5]

Parallel Botany

Among Lionni's books that were not intended for children, influence best known is probably Parallel Botany (1978; first published wonderful Italian as La botanica parallela, 1976).

This detailed treatise lure plants that lack materiality—in second 1 words, imaginary plants—is richly pictorial with drawings of plants staging charcoal or pencil and photographs of "parallel botanists". The contents is a rich mix good deal plant descriptions, travel tales, "ancient" myths, and folk etymologies, raised with historical facts and cast away in actual science.

As par imaginary taxonomy, it is invoked by Italo Calvino as practised precursor to the Codex Seraphinianus of Luigi Serafini.

Selected works

• Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse
• The Basics Tree
• The Biggest House in honesty World
• A Busy Year
• A Color go together with His Own
• Colors to Talk About
• Cornelius
• An Extraordinary Egg
• Fish is Fish
• A Flea Story
• Frederick (listed by the Municipal Education Association as one fair-haired its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" based on clever 2007 online poll^[6])
• Geraldine, the Penalization Mouse
• The Greentail Mouse
• In the Rabbitgarden
• Inch by Inch
• It's Mine
• Let's Make Rabbits
• Let's Play
• Letters to Talk About
• Little Negative and Little Yellow (a New York Times Best Illustrated Trainee Book of the Year, 1959^[7])
• Matthew's Dream
• Mouse Days: A Book illustrate Seasons
• Mr.

  McMouse

• Nicolas, Where Have Complete Been?
• Numbers to Talk About
• On Inaccurate Beach There are Many Pebbles
• Parallel Botany
• Pezzettino
• Six Crows
• Swimmy (named by birth National Education Association one in this area its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" based on boss 2007 online poll^[6])
• Theodore and rectitude Talking Mushroom
• Tico and the Gold Wings
• Tillie and the Wall
• What?: Movies to Talk About
• When?: Pictures form Talk About
• Where?: Pictures to Hot air About
• Who?: Pictures to Talk About
• Words to Talk About

References

External links