Leo Lionni

“I believe that a good children’s book should appeal to all people who have not completely lost their original joy and wonder in life. The fact is that I don’t make books for children at all. I make them for that part of us, of myself and of my friends, which has never changed, which is still a child.” This is a quote from Leo Lionni that resonates throughout a lot of his work and lifestyle. It is evident that he believed in bringing out the child in all of us and he did so with his works. Leo Lionni created a new genre of children’s books that used colorful collages which had a powerful impact on the design world and influenced many designers who came after him.

Lionni’s journey begins with his birth on May 5, 1910 in the Netherlands. Raised by a family that appreciated art, he naturally gravitated towards the dream of being an artist. Lionni spent a lot of time in nearby museums, observed nature, created terrariums, and even taught himself to draw. Despite all of this, he did not receive any formal art education during his early years. He went to school in Holland, Belgium, the United States, Italy, and Switzerland, but did not study art. In fact, he had a doctorate in economics from the University of Genoa. His doctorate in economics slowly made its way to the backburner as he increasingly became interested in art and design.

Going back to his family, they were no strangers to art. Lionni’s uncle was a diamond broker and art collector. Since his occupation required travel, he stored many works with his relatives, including Lionni’s family. This allowed him to be surrounded by many famous painters which complemented his experience at the nearby museums. At the age of twelve, Lionni’s parents moved to America without him. He eventually followed them to Philadelphia and then they all moved to Italy. Here he met his wife, Norah.

After his marriage in 1931, Lionni started to begin what was now clearly the beginnings of his work as a designer. He first worked writing for a local magazine about European Architecture. From here, he gained contacts that pointed him towards graphic design. In 1939, he moved to Philadelphia and began working in an advertising agency as art director. This was a successful experience for him as he had gained accounts from Ford Motors, Chrysler Plymouth, and many more. He had also commissioned art from Saul Steinberg, the then neophyte Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, and Fernand Léger.A famous project during this part of his career was the ad campaign for the Ladies Home Journal: Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman. During this time, Lionni gained the profileas a well-known and respected painter as he began to show his art in galleries from New York to Japan.

Other design experiences that followed include Lionni moving to New York City and opening his own office in 1941 where he became becoming art/design director for famous clients such Time/Life magazine, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, andOlivetti. He held this position until 1960 where he moved back to Italy. This would mark the launch of his career as a children’s book author and illustrator.

During his career, Lionni wrote and illustrated more than 40 children’s books. His first work (of what is now an extensive list of children’s books) that started it all was an accident called Little Blue and Little Yellow. Lionni originally developed this from a story that he had improvised to entertain his grandchildren during a train ride. He would usually draw pictures as he told stories to his grandchildren, but on this particular train ride lacked the proper drawing materials. Instead, he tore yellow and blue circles out of a magazine to tell a story. This method would be later seen in a lot of his works. The story was about an accidental encounter between a blue dot and a yellow dot. They had gotten together and then needed to be separated again. Little Blue and Little Yellowwas a huge success and served as a catalyst to the creation of his other works. Soon he was writing and illustrating several more stories for children.

With his children’s books, Lionni became the first author and illustrator to use a collage technique as the main medium for his illustrations. He has made several bold and colorful illustrations for his books that complement the story very well. It is simple yet beautiful and is easy to comprehend which made his works a hit for children, young and old.

Lionni’s color choices seem to be mostly earth tones that are close to the true colors of the objects he is portraying as they are found in nature. This can be seen in many of his books, but a specific example can be found in his book Inch by Inch. In this book he uses shades of brown and burnt orange of his collage of a robin to be realistic to is true form as found in nature. He also uses shades of brown with dark green leaves to color the tree branches appropriately. This can be related back to his point made in the quote presented: “I believe that a good children’s book should appeal to all people who have not completely lost their original joy and wonder in life.”

Many of Lionni’s books are fables with moral lessons that are taught. They typically incorporate ideas of cooperation, cleverness, or the importance of undervalued things. His books won several awards including the 1984 American Institute of Graphic Arts (A.I.G.A.) Gold Medal. He was also a four-time Caldecot Honor Winner for Inch by Inch (1961), Swimmy (1964), Fredrick (1968), and Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse (1970.) He had also won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1965.Sadly, his Journey comes to an end on October 11, 1999 in Italy when he passes away. Although he is gone, his work still lives on as he created a new genre of children’s books that used colorful collages which had a powerful impact on the design world and influenced many designers who came after him and are still treasured to this day.




Leo Lionni: The Eye of the Illustrator

Discussion — One Response

  • Rachael Paine 05/03/2019 on 12:04 PM

    Great post. It’s cool to see that Leo Lionni is both the illustrator and author of the books you’ve shared. As designers, we can send messages both verbally and visually and clearly this is an example of excelling in both narrative forms.

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