lundi 26 décembre 2011

Mon premier livre de contes et de comptines, by franciszka Themerson.






















Recently, I mentioned a book called Tricoti-Tricota illustrated by Françoise Themerson, do you remember ?
OK, so Memo Editions has reissued this amazing book who contains four tales of the 40's, illustrated by her and originally printed in London in 1947.

Franciszka Themerson was born in Warsaw, she is the daughter of the artists Jakus and Lucja Weinles. Franciszka was painter, illustrator, director, a graphic artist and stage designer.
After her studies at the Academy of Arts of Warsaw, she met in 1929 the writer Stefan Themerson who will become her husband and with whom she collaborated on several projects.

Despite all her occupations, she always was passionated about drawing and has illustrated 59 books including 28 for children and 12 written by Stefan.

During the 30's, she has illustrated several books in Poland including the famous, Pan Tom Buduje Dom. ( Reissued in 2007 on the occasion of the centenary of her birth. )
In parallel, Stefan and Franciszka are making experimental films in Poland.

In 1938, they moved to Paris, the capital of all Avant Gardes at that time. Franciszka was illustrated two books of May d'alençon for Le Père Castor Editions called "Tricoti tricota" and "Tout en soie".

The Second World War upset Themerson's projects. After a forced separation, Stefan and Franciszka found themselves in London in 1942.
In 1948, they created Gaberbocchus Press, an independent publishing house which Franciszka was the Art Director.
Themerson's goal is to publish their own artworks but also to make discover the European Avant Garde Overseas.
They published for the first time in England autors like Guillaume Apollinaire, Alfred Jarry, Raymond Queneau, Kurt Schwitters.
They collaborated with the philosopher Bertrand Russell and published The good citizen's Alphabet .
Stefan will be the only English member of the Oulipo founded in 1960. They said they wanted to produce "best lookers" more then "best sellers." They conceived books as an artistic object as much as creative writing.
They were very influenced by the english nonsense, as it is shown by the Gaberbocchus choice, latinized name of Lewis Carroll, The Jabberwocky from The other side of the mirror, Francisza's favorite book.
In Peddy Bottom's adventures, Stefan's texts and Franciszka's drawings mix a universe of fantasy which denounced the cruelty of the world by absurdity.

vendredi 16 décembre 2011

Caramel illustrated by Leonard Weisgard, 1962









I have a lot of books I'd like to share with you but if I put all my books at once, the blog wouldn't have interest. Believe me it is hard to resist, sometimes i would like to put 3 or 4 books but it wouldn't reasonable! So I have to take my troubles patiently ! I have so many books, games, advertisings i would like to make you discover !!!! :D
Ok... So ! This is one of my favourite illustrator... Let me present Mr Leonard Weisgard !!! I'm such a fan of his work ! It has been months I wanted to talk about ...

I found this nice biography on the website dedicated to him : 


Mr Weisgard was born on December 13 in New haven, Connecticut.
He spent his childhood in England and moved back to The United Stated when he has 8 years old.
At school in New York, he found illustrations monotonous and thought that the world could not be all that dreary and limited to only one color.

During his studies at the Pratt Institute and the New School for Social Research, he was influenced by primitive cave paintings, Gothic and Renaissance art and avant-garde French illustrators of children’s books of the 1920s.

He used a wide range of colors and media in his books, including gouache, poster paint, crayon, chalk, decoupage, stenciling and pen and ink. 

Leonard Weisgard also studied dance with Martha Graham and worked in the field of window display. He began his career making illustrations for magazines such as Good Housekeeping, The New Yorker and Harper’s Bazaar. 

His first book, Suki, the Siamese Pussy, was published in 1937, followed by an adaptation of Cinderella.

In 1939 the first of more than two dozen collaborations with Margaret Wise Brown was published, The Noisy Book.
Their 1947 book, The Little Island,which Brown wrote under the pseudonym Golden MacDonald, won the Caldecott Medal for best-illustrated children’s book.

Weisgard also collaborated with other children’s book writers and wrote books he illustrated himself, sometimes under the pseudonym “Adam Green".

Leonard Weisgard married Phyllis Monnot in 1951 and they had three children, Abigail (1952), Christina (1954) and Ethan (1957).
Leonard and Phyllis often worked together creating set and costume designs with Leonard sketching and Phyllis making patterns so the designs could become a reality. He designed the stage sets and costumes for several productions of the San Francisco Ballet, including The Dryad and The Nutcracker.

During the years he lived in Roxbury, Connecticut, Weisgard was deeply involved with children's education. He lectured extensively and worked closely with The American Library Association.

Leonard Weisgard moved to Denmark with his wife and children in 1969 where he lived for the rest of his life. His children and grandchildren - Ethan and Midoriko's son  Yuji (1989) and daughter Nanami (1987) - all live in Copenhagen.




samedi 10 décembre 2011

DominoPuzzle des animaux from the 60's edited by Fernand Nathan.




A new cute game for your children is available !!!
This game is complete and numbered !!!
It contains 28 cards depicting animals and was edited by Fernand Nathan in the 60's.
Enjoy !!!



mardi 15 novembre 2011

jeudi 3 novembre 2011

Feodora, illustrated by Jan Goeting.



































Finally i got it !!!! I'm so happy !!! It's one of the most beautiful book i've seen this year !!!
I'm really proud to make you discover this amazing book illustrated by Jan Goeting !!!

Karel en mienet written by Mariejte Witteveen and illustrated by Eddy Dukkers, circa 1950.

Karel en mienet is one of my favorite illustrated book. I'm still looking for Karel en mienet 2, if you have it and...