Leo Lionni

"From time to time, from the

endless flow of our mental imagery,
there emerges unexpectedly
something that, vague though it
may be, seems to carry the promise
of a form, a meaning, and, more
important, an irresistible poetic
charge.”
Leo Lionni

Author/Illustrator
Biography
• Born May 5, 1910 in Amsterdam, Holland
• Had a passion for nature as a young child and collected little creatures
from outdoors and kept them in jars in his bedroom
• Lionni’s uncle Peit gave him his first lessons in drawing and gave him his
first drawing table
• Knew at an early age that he wanted to become an artist
• Spent much of his childhood at the art museums of Amsterdam teaching
himself to draw
• Earned his Ph. D in economics from the University of Genoa in 1935
• Worked as a freelance designer, painter, writer
• Moved to the United States in 1939 where he was an art director for
an advertising agency
• Was recognized as a “dynamic talent in commercial design,” by
Lesley Potts.
• Reviewers of his work described him as a phenomenon, genuinely
versatile, and one of the world’s most original designers
• Exhibited his paintings and sculptures at shows, museums, and
universities in the United States
• His career as an author/illustrator began in the late 1950’s
• Leo Lionni wrote his first children’s book Little Blue and Little
Yellow in 1959 while on a train ride with his grandchildren.
• Returned to Italy in 1961 where he focused on his brass and iron
sculptures and writing children’s books
• Lionni wrote more than 40 children’s books
• He received the 1984 American Institute of Graphic Arts Gold Medal
and was a four-time Caldecott Honor Winner
• His final work was Between Worlds: The Autobiography of Leo Lionni
• Died of complications of Parkinson’s disease on October 12, 1999
• His innovative use of collage, white space, and clean, modern design
was a major influence on Eric Carle, Ezra Jack Keats, and other
children’s book artists
• In 2007 the Society of Illustrators awarded him a posthumous Lifetime
Achievement Award.
Lionni as an Author
• Lionni’s first children’s book developed out of torn paper from a magazine. Little
Blue and Little Yellow was an entertaining story to pass the time for Leo’s
grandchildren.
• Lesley S. Potts says that Lionni’s books have developed in ways that reflect his
own childhood and its influences, as well as his life as a designer, artist, and
thinker.
• Lionni states in his essay My Books for Children, “Among the varied things I’ve
done in my life few have given me more and greater satisfactions than my
children’s books.
• His work develops from little human problems which he uses animals to tell the
story
• The protagonist, do to special circumstances, is usually an outcast, rebel, victim,
or hero
• Often his characters learn through suffering but always come out on top
• Often Lionni was asked who his intended audience was. His response
was this:
• “I believe in fact, that a good children’s book should appeal to all
people who have not completely lost their original joy and wonder in
life.”
• He also followed that with:
• “The fact is I really don’t make children’s books for children at all. I
make them for that part of us, of myself and my friends, which has
never changed.”
Lionni as an Illustrator
• Leo Lionni taught himself to draw by sitting in the hallways of museums
and copying the images he saw
• Leo didn’t need to consult nature books to copy the shapes, colors, and
textures of insects and reptiles, rodents and birds, pebbles and seashells. He
simply copied them from the images that were stored away in his memory.
• Lionni used cut-outs, finger paints, construction paper scraps to help him
create vivid illustrations for his books
• He took great pride in his draftsmanship and used this talent to help
enhance many of his pictures.
• In a video of Lionni he stated that he tears the paper to create a furry effect
• The use of collage creates texture that makes the reader want to touch the
pictures
Some of Lionni’s Illustrations
Leo Lionni’s Work

Between the Worlds: The Autobiography of Leo Lionni (1997)

Awards and Honors
• National Society of Art Director’s Award 1955
• Architectural League Gold Medal 1956
• New York Times Best Illustrated Award 1959 for Little Blue and Little Yellow
• Caldecott Honor Book 1960, Lewis Carroll Shelf Award 1962, Children’s Book Prize (Germany) 1963 all for
Inch by Inch
• New York Times Best Illustrated Award 1963, Caldecott Honor Book and American Library Association
(ALA) Notable Book Citation, both 1964, German Government Illustrated Book Award 1965, and Bratislava
Biennale Golden Apple, 1967, all for Swimmy
• Spring Book Festival Picture Book Honor, 1968, for The Biggest House in the World
• New York Times Best Illustrated Award, 1967, Caldecott Honor Book and ALA Notable Book Citation, both
1968, all for Frederick
• ALA Notable Book Citation, 1970, for Fish is Fish
• Caldecott Honor Book, ALA Notable Book Citation, and Christopher Book Award, all 1970, all for Alexander
and the Wind-Up Mouse
Awards and Honors Contd.
• Five major awards at Teheran Film Festival in 1970 for two animated films
• Elected to Art Directors Hall of Fame, 1974
• George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books Award for body of work, 1976
• American Institute of Graphic Arts Gold Medal, 1984
• Jane Adams Children’s Book Award, 1988 for Nicholas Where Have You Been?
• The Society of Illustrators awarded him a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007
References
• Something about the Author. Ed. Anne Commire. Vol. 8. Detroit:
Gale Research, 1976. p114-116.
• Something about the Author. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 72. Detroit: Gale
Research, 1993. p157-162
• Something about the Author. Ed. Alan Hedblad. Vol. 118. Detroit:
Gale Group, 2001. p122.
Tóth Zsófia
Group: 16/1
English Children's Literature II. 2018/19-Portfolio