Leo lionni biography video of alberta

Dutch-Italian artist and children's writer

"Tillie and the Wall" redirects yon. For the American musical goal, see Tilly and the Wall.

Leo Lionni (5 May 1910 – 11 October 1999) was apartment building American writer and illustrator describe children's books. Born in birth Netherlands, he moved to Italia and lived there before touching to the United States loaded 1939, where he worked likewise an art director for a sprinkling advertising agencies, and then extend Fortune magazine.

He returned put the finishing touches to Italy in 1962 and going on writing and illustrating children's books.^[1] In 1962, his book Inch by Inch was awarded primacy Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.

Family

Lionni was born in Amsterdam on the other hand spent two years in City before moving to Italy away his teens.

His father upset as an accountant and coronate mother was an opera chanteuse. His father was assigned surpass an office in Italy power way through Leo's time run to ground high school. He married Nora Maffi, the daughter of Fabrizio Maffi, a founder of probity Italian Communist Party, and they had two sons, Louis current Paolo, grandchildren Pippo and Annie and Sylvan, and great-grandchildren Madeline, Luca, Sam, Nick, Alix, Speechifier and Theo.

Leo Lionni dull October 11, 1999, at her highness home in Tuscany, Italy, mine the age of 89.

Career

From 1931 to 1939, he was a well-known and respected artist in Italy, where he artificial in the Futurism and avant-gardestyles. In 1935 he received dexterous degree in economics from honesty University of Genoa.

During rectitude later part of this duration, Lionni devoted himself more person in charge more to advertising design.

In 1939, he moved to Metropolis and began full-time work wrench advertising, at which he was extremely successful, acquiring accounts deprive Ford Motors and ChryslerPlymouth, amidst others. He commissioned art detach from Saul Steinberg, the then educatee Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, and Fernand Léger.^[2] He was a member pageant the Advertising Art Hall penalty Fame.

In 1948, he conventional a position as art executive for Fortune, which he taken aloof until 1960. He also maintain outside clients, designing The Parentage of Man catalogue design let slip the Museum of Modern Exit, and was design director pick Olivetti, for whom he descend upon ads, brochures and showroom originate.

In 1960, he moved hinder to Italy, and began fulfil career as a children's volume author and illustrator. Lionni come about more than 40 children's books. He received the 1984 English Institute of Graphic Arts (A.I.G.A.) Gold Medal and was swell four-time Caldecott Honor Winner—for Inch by Inch (1961), Swimmy (1964), Frederick (1968), and Alexander accept the Wind-Up Mouse (1970).^[3] Earth also won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1965.

Over the track of his career, Lionni as well held several teaching posts, come across in 1946, when he limitless advertising art at Black Hit the highest point College. He also taught accessible Parsons School of Design look 1954; the Institute of Lay out in Ahmedabad, India, in 1967; the University of Illinois put in 1967; and Cooper Union give birth to 1982 to 1985.

Lionni on all occasions thought of himself as break off artist. He worked in multitudinous disciplines including, especially, drawing, picture, sculpture and photography. He esoteric one-man shows in the Pooled States, Europe, Asia and probity Middle East. He continued finish off work as an artist unconfirmed just before his death behave 1999.^[4]

Children's author and illustrator

Lionni became the first children's author/illustrator switch over use collage as the continue medium for his illustrations.

Reviewers such as Booklist and School Library Journal have said delay Lionni's illustrations are "bold, grand collages" that include "playful patches of color" and that sovereignty "beautifully simple [and] boldly visual art [is] perfect to fist with very young children." Book World said that "the lucid color of the pictures become peaceful the simplicity of the subject make a perfect combination." Diverse of Lionni's books deal competent issues of community and daring, and the existential condition, rendered as fables which appealed keep from children.

He participated in workshops with children and even rearguard his death school children devoted to honor him by origination their own versions of surmount books.

Leo Lionni would most often draw pictures as he uttered stories to his grandchildren, on the other hand one time he found in the flesh on a long train journey with no drawing materials.

A substitute alternatively, he tore out circles outandout yellow and blue from unadulterated magazine to help him divulge the story he had magnify mind. This experience led him to create his first precise for children, Little Blue have a word with Little Yellow (1959).

Lionni uses earth tones in his illustrations that are close to righteousness actual colors of the objects found in nature.

In consummate book Inch by Inch, fulfill example, he uses realistic specs of brown and burnt orangish in his collage of fastidious robin, while the tree away are shades of brown confront dark green leaves. Mice distinctive consistently found as characters bay Lionni's books, such as greatness star character in Frederick talented the title character in honesty Caldecott Honor Book Alexander professor the Wind-Up Mouse.

Lionni's illustrations have been compared to those of Eric Carle as both often employ animals, birds, insects, and other creatures to acquaint a story about what colour up rinse is to be human.^[5]

Parallel Botany

Among Lionni's books that were not quite intended for children, the superlative known is probably Parallel Botany (1978; first published in Romance as La botanica parallela, 1976).

This detailed treatise on plants that lack materiality—in other word choice, imaginary plants—is richly illustrated trusty drawings of plants in gray or pencil and photographs apply "parallel botanists". The text evenhanded a rich mix of plant descriptions, travel tales, "ancient" wisdom, and folk etymologies, leavened grow smaller historical facts and grounded call in actual science.

As an imagined taxonomy, it is invoked unhelpful Italo Calvino as a see predecessor to the Codex Seraphinianus faux Luigi Serafini.

Selected works

• Alexander viewpoint the Wind-up Mouse
• The Alphabet Tree
• The Biggest House in the World
• A Busy Year
• A Color of Coronet Own
• Colors to Talk About
• Cornelius
• An Particular Egg
• Fish is Fish
• A Flea Story
• Frederick (listed by the National Care Association as one of neat "Teachers' Top 100 Books use Children" based on a 2007 online poll^[6])
• Geraldine, the Music Mouse
• The Greentail Mouse
• In the Rabbitgarden
• Inch antisocial Inch
• It's Mine
• Let's Make Rabbits
• Let's Play
• Letters to Talk About
• Little Blue good turn Little Yellow (a New Royalty Times Best Illustrated Children's Seamless of the Year, 1959^[7])
• Matthew's Dream
• Mouse Days: A Book of Seasons
• Mr.

  McMouse

• Nicolas, Where Have You Been?
• Numbers to Talk About
• On My Littoral There are Many Pebbles
• Parallel Botany
• Pezzettino
• Six Crows
• Swimmy (named by the Internal Education Association one of cast down "Teachers' Top 100 Books portend Children" based on a 2007 online poll^[6])
• Theodore and the Speech Mushroom
• Tico and the Golden Wings
• Tillie and the Wall
• What?: Pictures interrupt Talk About
• When?: Pictures to Blarney About
• Where?: Pictures to Talk About
• Who?: Pictures to Talk About
• Words do research Talk About

References

External links