Tomi Ungerer

Tomi (Jean-Thomas) Ungerer (born November 28, 1931) in Strasbourg is a French illustrator best known for his erotic and political illustrations as well as children's books.

Biography

Tomi Ungerer was born in Strasbourg in Alsace. His mother Alice 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, causing his house to be requisitioned by the army of Nazi Germany.

Ungerer moved to United States in 1956. The following year, Ungerer published his first children's book for Harper & Row, "The Mellops Go Flying". He also did illustration work for "The New York Times" and for television during this time, and began to create posters denouncing the Vietnam War.

After "Allumette; A Fable, with Due Respect to Hans Christian Andersen, the Grimm Brothers, and the Honorable Ambrose Bierce" in 1974, Ungerer ceased writing children's books, focusing instead on adult-level books, many of which focused on sexuality. He eventually returned to children's literature with "Flix", 1998.

He currently lives on the Mizen Peninsula in Ireland, where he and his wife moved in 1976. In 1998, Tomi Ungerer was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award for illustration.

In 2007, his hometown dedicated him a museum, the "Musée Tomi Ungerer - centre international de l'illustration".

Overview of work

Ungerer's themes include the Vietnam War, eroticism (especially sadomasochism), bigotry in various forms and imaginative subjects for children's books.

Works

* "The Mellops Go Flying", (1957), children
* "Mellops Go Diving for Treasure", (1957), children
* "Crictor", (1958), children
* "The Mellops Strike Oil", (1958), children
* "Adelaide", (1959), children
* "Christmas Eve at the Mellops", (1960), children
* "Emile", (1960), children
* "Rufus", (1961), children
* "The Three Robbers", (1961), children
* "Der Herzinfarkt", (1962), adult
* "Snail, Where Are You?", (1962), children
* "Mellops Go Spelunking", (1963), children
* "Flat Stanley", (1964), children. Art by Tomi Ungerer, written by Jeff Brown
* "One, Two, Where's My Shoe?", (1964), children
* "Beastly Boys and Ghastly Girls", (1964), children. Art by Tomi Ungerer, poems collected by William Cole
* "The Underground Sketchbook", (1964), adult
* "Oh, What Nonsense!", (1966), children. Art by Tomi Ungerer, edited by William Cole
* "Orlando, the Brave Vulture", (1966), children
* "The Party", (1966), adult
* "What's Good for a 4-Year-Old?", (1967), children. Art by Tomi Ungerer, text by William Cole
* "Moon Man", (1966), children
* "Zeralda's Ogre", (1967), children
* "Ask Me a Question", (1968), children
* "Fornicon", (1969), adult
* "Oh, how Silly!", (1970), children. Art by Tomi Ungerer, edited by William Cole
* "The Hat", (1970), children
* "Tomi Ungerer's Compromises", (1970), adult
* "I Am Papa Snap and These Are My Favorite No Such Stories", (1971), children. Has spawned unofficial Snapism cult in Australia
* "The Beast of Monsieur Racine", (1971), children
* "The Hut", (1972), children
* "Oh, That's Ridiculous!", (1972), children. Art by Tomi Ungerer, edited by William Cole
* "Poster Art of Tomi Ungerer", (1972), adult
* "No Kiss for Mother", (1973), children
* "Allumette; A Fable, with Due Respect to Hans Christian Andersen, the Grimm Brothers, and the Honorable Ambrose Bierce", (1974), children
* "America", (1974), adult
* "Totempole", (1976), adult
* "Babylon", (1979), adult
* "Cat-Hater's Handbook, Or, The Ailurophobe's Delight", (1981), adult. Co-authored by William Cole
* "Symptomatics", (1982), adult
* "Rigor Mortis", (1983), adult
* "Slow Agony", (1983), adult
* "Heute hier, morgen fort", (1983), adult
* "Far out Isn't Far Enough", (1984), adult
* "Femme Fatale", (1984), adult
* "Schwarzbuch", (1984), adult
* "Joy of Frogs", (1985), adult
* "Warteraum", (1985), adult
* "Schutzengel der Hölle", (1986), adult
* "Cats As Cats Can", (1997), adult
* "", (1997) children. Art by Tomi Ungerer, text by Johanna Spyri
* "Flix", (1998), children
* "Tortoni Tremelo the Cursed Musician", (1998), children
* "", (1998), adult
* "", (1999), adult
* "", (1999), children
* "Erotoscope", (2002), adult

List of exhibitions

* Berlin, 1962. Posters against racism and the Vietnam WarMelbourne Cup

Other works

* Design of the Janus Aqueduct in Strasbourg 1988
* Design of the Hundred Europeans Maze in Baden 2000

Quotes

* "If people were brave enough to live out their erotic fantasies, pornography would disappear altogether. I've always believed that eroticism, even more than sensuality, is a form of liberation." -- "Erotoscope"

External links

* [http://www.exopuce.fr/tomi/ Tomi's homepage]
* [http://www.musees-strasbourg.org/F/musees/tomi/tomi.html The « Musée Tomi Ungerer »]
* Biography translated from an [http://www.asm-humaninterest.ch/e/tu4e.html exhibition] in Hanover