Today Tomi Ungerer, satirist and illustrator, turns 75.
When Tomi Ungerer is compared to other artists often the names of the very best like Goya, Hogarth, George Grosz or Daumier are used to describe his work. He became famous with witty children books but also for his erotic, sarcastic and political drawings. 1998 he was given the Hans Christian Andersen Award for his life work on children books. But still until today it is almost impossible to buy one of his books in the UK or the US.
Ungerer lived in New York during the 1950s, where he became well known with sarcastic and erotic drawings. But as this was McCarthy time, like many other artists he was under observation by the FBI and later his work was banned including his children books.
Ungerer today lives in Ireland and the Alsace where he also was born. We wish him all the best and hope he needs to carry less world-weariness on his shoulders these days.
click on the image for the jump
More information on Tomi Ungerer at his official web site and the Centre Tomi Ungerer web site of the Musees de Strasbourg.
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