Leo Lionni, a picture book color master full of life wisdom

? "If picture books are a new visual art of our time, then Leo Leoni is the master of this style." -The New York Times

Leo Lionn i I, an American writer and painter of children's literature, was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in May.

Leoni is a brilliant and unconstrained artistic genius, proficient in painting, sculpture, graphic design, printing, ceramics, photography and so on. Although Leoni was 49 years old when he started to create picture books, he started a new era of picture books. His picture books won numerous awards, among which One-inch Bug, Little Black Fish, Afo the vole and Alexander and the Clockwork Mouse were won four times by 196 1 964, 1968 and 1970 respectively.

childhood

Leo Leoni was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, into a family with a strong artistic atmosphere. My father is a Jewish businessman engaged in diamond processing and jewelry design! My mother is a soprano.

Little Leo often plays and imagines in a big space alone. "The protagonists in my story are frogs, mice, turtles, sticklebacks, snails and butterflies. Lived in my room and attic three quarters of a century ago. "

Uncle Piater is an architect and artist, and Uncle William is a collector of modern art. His hallway is also covered with Xia Jiaer's original works, which his uncle left at home to avoid taxes. They are Leonie's art enlightenment teachers and heroes of his youth. Museums in Amsterdam are the cradle of young artists.

1922, parents went to Philadelphia to seek development, 12-year-old Leo stayed at his grandmother's house in Brussels. He can often go to see menstruation and his uncle, who is also a big collector and owns six Picasso paintings!

Since he was a teenager, he has been taken to the art museum to listen to adults talking about academic theories such as modern art. Montlian's paintings are like comic books in the hands of children now.

So he was immersed in a rich artistic atmosphere from an early age and grew up under the influence of Picasso's paintings. He has been very familiar with modern art since he was a child. "For me, modern painting is not learned as knowledge, but felt in a natural way."

Leonie later said: "When people ask me what I want to be when I grow up, I always answer without hesitation: to be an artist."

/kloc-moved to America and Italy with his family since he was 0/3 years old. Besides Dutch, German and French, I also studied English and Italian.

1935 obtained a doctorate in economics at the age of 25.

He became an adult.

He is a brilliant and unconstrained artistic genius, proficient in painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic design, printing, pottery, photography and so on.

According to her granddaughter Anne Leonie, her grandfather loved music and was brilliant. He has never seen any music, but he can play many of his favorite songs easily and naturally. I often listen to him play the accordion, then watch him learn the Spanish flamenco guitar, and then watch him learn the Indian sitar. When he can't play these instruments because of Parkinson's disease, he can still play some music he likes on his granddaughter's piano.

He used to design cars for Ford, most notably as the design director of Fortune magazine for ten years.

1950, McCarthy Movement, which persecuted * * * industrialism, was launched in the United States, and he became a leading figure in American design circles.

1953 held his own solo exhibition, served as the chairman of the annual international design conference, 1955 won the best advertising production designer award of the American Graphic Arts Association, 1956 won the gold medal of the Architectural Alliance, and 1956 served as the chairman of the American Graphic Arts Association. Besides, he has a lot of titles.

1984, when he was awarded the American Graphic Arts Association Award, he was evaluated as having deeply influenced at least three generations through his artistic creation, design creation, leadership and talent training in the design field, and creation of children's picture books. Humanism and rationalism run through his works.

1999 10 The master of picture books, known as the "color magician", died in Italy at the age of 89.

By the way, Leo Leoni is also an important person of Eric Carr (the author of The Hungry Caterpillar). Eric Carr's first job in the United States was introduced by Li. He was also the first person to encourage Eric Carr to create picture books and always helped him make an appointment with the editor.

Why did Leo Leoni choose a picture book?

When I decided to go back to Italy, my friends around me advised me; "If you have any dissatisfaction with staying in the United States, we can try our best to improve it." But this is not the case. "I don't think if external conditions change, it will be happier than in the past. It is difficult to express this feeling clearly in words, but I vaguely feel that this is a "tribute to life." "I want to take a look at the universe in my heart. This is a very personal job, and I feel guilty in the process of changing from the public to the individual. But moving in this direction ... standing alone in the vast universe ... but I think most of it is not my choice. Can you understand ... "

In his second picture book, An Inch Bug, Leonie revealed a little inner secret: he was tired of "success" that didn't really belong to him. He wants to make his own voice in his own way.

Picture book creation

1959, such a dazzling modern art coffee and doctor of economics, decided to quit all this when his career reached its peak. When he announced that he was 50 years old, he returned to his second hometown of Italy (his father-in-law was the founder of the Italian production party) and started a new life. From then on, I began to create picture books. Leonie is out of public life. How much courage and wisdom he should have to support such a life choice!

/kloc-published the first picture book "Little Blue and Yellow" in 0/959.

1960' s The One-Inch Worm, 1963' s Little Black Fish, 1967' s Alfred the vole, and 1969' s Alexander and the Clockwork Mouse won the American Cadillac Award four times.

Although Leonie was 49 years old when he started to create picture books, he started a new era of picture books. The New York Times once praised him like this: "If picture books are a new visual art of our time, then Leo Leoni is the master of this style."

Leo Leoni left us too many wonderful treasures with his wisdom and creativity.

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Work style/creative concept

Color master

Leo? Leonie is known as the "master of color", and his paintings have traces of German de stijl and the abstract school. Colorful, elegant, exquisite, soft and vivid …

Big head photo

He is good at collage. Instead of pigments, there are all kinds of materials that can be pasted, such as newspapers, wallpapers, colored paper, fast food, wool, stamps, peels and so on. , pasted on pictures or canvases, showing different textures, showing the special texture of relief flavor to enrich the picture.

Fable master

Leo is known as the fable master in children's literature, and his stories are full of fables and philosophies. Use simple and thought-provoking stories to convey meaningful life wisdom. Including: self-awareness, self-acceptance, warm friendship, keeping personality precious and dreams beautiful. ......

Find yourself

"Seeking self" is the eternal theme of Leonid's works. He integrated the philosophy of life into his imaginative and creative picture books. After studying all Leonie's works, Mr. Matsujuzhi, the "father of picture books" in Japan, said that all Leonie's picture books are asking the same question-"Who am I", what is a person, what has he become, how will his peers view his changes and how their views affect his heart. ...

Author's word

He once explained his creative philosophy: "All works of art, no matter how simple, should contain some meaning, and children's books are no exception. Implicit meaning often lasts longer in children's hearts than blunt indoctrination. "

"I am interested in socially meaningful ideas. I try to tell important questions about people in simple language. Stories without connotation are boring and not fun to tell. " "Children will undoubtedly feel meaningful and instill something in their lives. Things without content are dead, just an empty shelf. " ?

Its rigorous grammar is exemplary, but its choice of words is very individual. It seems that he does not naturally choose some commonly used words, but prefers to choose some words that are more creative, interesting and symbolic. -A Jia

Teacher Jia's "Talking about Lionel's Life" said that Lionel had devoted himself to studying a branch of Indian Sect, which is also an explanation of why Lionel's book is called "Yoga Book". ?

Leonie has a profound insight into human nature, and at the same time, he has the ability to tell complex truths in a simple way that children can understand. Sincerity runs through all his works. -Readers