TOMI UNGERER

Tomi Ungerer, 1960s.

In the early 1960s, Tomi Ungerer used to build kites as a hobby, and fly them on the beach near his Long Island summer home.

Tomi Ungerer is an incredibly prolific artist and has published over 140 books of drawings ranging from iconic children’s books, 60's agitprop posters to controversial adult work.

He is famous for his sharp social satire and his witty aphorisms and his work ranges from the fantastic to the autobiographical. He is also an illustrator, a sculptor, an inventor, an architectural designer and worked extensively in advertising.

In 2003 Ungerer was appointed the first ever Ambassador for Childhood and Education by the Council of Europe. In 2007 the Tomi Ungerer Museum opened in Strasbourg, making him the first living artist to have a museum dedicated to their life and work in France. Since then, the Tomi Ungerer Museum has been voted as one of the ten best museums in Europe by the Council of Europe.

check out my account of his appearing out of the blue at MOMA in Oxford here

I mentioned there he was kind enough to sign an exhibition retrospective book I had and also that I had an original for a while but it frightened my children and I ended up selling it to the Head of Graphics my old friend Brian Love at Kingston School of Graphics and Design. Well here they are . . . . . . . . .

Tomi Ungerer - signed original collage and drawing 'Cat & Drum' 

Tomi Ungerer - signed flyleaf to the above restrospective exhibition catalogue

Tomi Ungerer website