Tomi Ungerer

Jean-Thomas “Tomi” Ungerer (German pronunciation: [ˈtoːmi ˈʊŋəʁɐ] ; 28 November 1931 – 9 February 2019) was a French artist and writer from Alsace (a French region on the French/German border). He published over 140 books ranging from children’s books to adult works and from the fantastic to the autobiographical. He was known for sharp social satire and witty aphorisms. Ungerer is also famous as a cartoonist and designer of political posters and film posters.

Ungerer received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1998 for his “lasting contribution” as a children’s illustrator.

Biography

Ungerer was born in Strasbourg in Alsace, France, the youngest of four children to Alice (Essler) and Theo Ungerer. The family moved to Logelbach, near Colmar, after the death of Tomi’s father, Theodore-an artist, engineer, and astronomical clock manufacturer-in 1936. Ungerer also lived through the German occupation of Alsace when the family home was requisitioned by the Wehrmacht.

As a young man, Ungerer was inspired by the illustrations appearing in The New Yorker magazine, particularly the work of Saul Steinberg. In 1957, the year after he moved to the U.S., Harper & Row published his first children’s book, The Mellops Go Flying, and his second, The Mellops Go Diving for Treasure; by the early 1960s he had created at least ten children’s picture books with Harper, plus a few others, and had illustrated some books by other writers. He also did illustration work for publications including The New York Times, Esquire, Life, Harper’s Bazaar, The Village Voice, and for television during the 1960s, and began to create posters denouncing the Vietnam War.

Maurice Sendak called Moon Man (1966) “easily one of the best picture books in recent years.” After Allumette: A Fable, subtitled With Due Respect to Hans Christian Andersen, the Grimm Brothers, and the Honorable Ambrose Bierce in 1974, he ceased writing children’s books, focusing instead on adult-level books, many of which concern sexuality. He eventually returned to children’s literature with Flix in 1998. Ungerer donated many of the manuscripts and artwork for his early children’s books to the Children’s Literature Research Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

A consistent theme in Ungerer’s illustrations is his support for European construction, beginning with Franco-German reconciliation in his home region of Alsace, and in particular European values of tolerance and diversity. In 2003, he was named Ambassador for Childhood and Education by the 47-nation Council of Europe.

In 2007, his home town dedicated a museum to him, the Musée Tomi Ungerer/Centre international de l’illustration.

Ungerer divided his time between Ireland, where he and his wife had moved in 1976, and Strasbourg. In addition to his work as a graphic artist and ‘drawer’, he was also a designer, toy collector and “archivist of human absurdity.”

A biographical documentary film, Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story, was produced in 2012. The film was featured at the 2013 Palm Springs International Film Festival. In 2015-2016, the Kunsthaus Zurich and the Museum Folkwang in Essen devoted a large exhibition to Ungerer’s artistic oeuvre and in particular his collages. A comprehensive book has been published by Philipp Keel from Diogenes with essays by Tobias Burg, Cathérine Hug and Thérèse Willer.

Ungerer died on 9 February 2019 in Cork, Ireland, aged 87.

Work

Tomi Ungerer described himself first and foremost as a story teller and satirist. Prevalent themes in his work include political satire (such as drawings and posters against the Vietnam War and against animal cruelty), eroticism, and imaginative subjects for children’s books. Ungerer’s publications are held by the German National Library, including:

Children’s books

Adult books

Other works

Design of Dr. Strangelove film poster (1964)

Design of the logo for the ill-fated Broadway musical Kelly (1965)

Art work, poster, and titles for the film Monterey Pop (1968)

Design of the Janus Aqueduct in Strasbourg (1988)

Awards

The biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award conferred by the International Board on Books for Young People is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children’s books. Ungerer received the illustration award in 1998.

Ungerer received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement of the Year award at the Sexual Freedom Awards. In 2018, he was made a commander of the Legion of Honour.

Literature

Wilhelm Hornbostel (ed.): Tomi Ungerer. Zwischen Marianne und Germania, on the occasion of the exhibitions of the same name at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, 19 December 1999 – 13 February 2000, and at the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, 16 March – 13 June 2000]. Prestel, Munich 1999

Maria Linsmann: preface to exhibition catalogue Tomi Ungerer-Illustrationen und Plastiken, Burg Wissem, Bilderbuchmuseum of Troisdorf 2000

Thérèse Willer: Tomi Ungerer, the “Picasso“ of caricature. In: Graphis. The international journal of design and communication, ISSN 0017-3452, vol. 59, no. 348, 2003, pp 18-37

Thérèse Willer: Tomi Ungerer. Das Tomi Ungerer Museum in Strasbourg. Diogenes, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-257-02094-6. (catalogue of the permanent exhibition, with 210 illustrations by Ungerer, three essays by Thérèse Willer and several introductions)

Thérèse Willer: Tomi Ungerer: Energie. EnBW Service, Karlsruhe 2007, ISBN 978-3-934510-26-5.

Tomi Ungerer. Der schärfste Strich der westlichen Welt. du Kulturmedien, No. 812, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-905931-04-4, Table of contents Archived 17 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine

Daniel Keel (ed.): Expect the Unexpected. Essays über Tomi Ungerer zu seinem 80. Geburtstag, essays by Manuel Gasser, Walther Killy, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Robert Gernhardt, Anna Gavalda, Elke Heidenreich. Diogenes, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-257-05614-3

References

External links

Official website

Literature by and about Tomi Ungerer in the German National Library catalogue

Musée Tomi Ungerer

Lambiek Comiclopedia page.

Biography translated from an exhibition in Hanover

Tomi Ungerer: The Artist and His Background d.hatena.ne.jp 1971

Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story – Trailer on YouTube

Tomi Ungerer at Library of Congress, with 148 library catalog records

Tomi Ungerer at IMDb