Leo Lionni

So some backstory before delving into Lionni's work. From 1931 to 1939 he was a well known and respected painter in Italy, where he worked in the Futurism and Avant-Garde styles. He then moved to the world of advertising design, became an art director and finally settled down in the 1960s to devote himself to becoming a children's book author and illustrator. He produced over 40 children's books. He experimented using a variety of mediums: paintings, sculptures, collages, drawings, mosaics, designs, posters and advertisements.

He became widely recognized as one of the most distinguished and innovative designers and artists of the twentieth century. His life, most especially his early, formative years, bears testimony to how his everyday experiences, his family, and his surroundings influenced him as an artist and creative thinker.

A very sweet story as to how Lionni discovered his love of creating children's books:

"In 1959, at the top of his career, he decided he would retire on his fiftieth birthday, move to Italy, and follow his own creative spirit.

I reached the conviction that all human acts have social and political consequences....You must feel responsible for every line you draw, for every decision you make.

Then, shortly after he made his momentous decision...

a little miracle happened.

He was taking his two young grandchildren, Pippo and Annie, from Grand Central Station to his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. When the two youngsters began acting up, he said, "I’ll tell you a story." He pulled out of his briefcase an advance copy of Life and began tearing out pages of the magazine, and from them, small round pieces of various colors.

I put my briefcase on my knees to make a table and in a deep voice said, "This is Little Blue, and this is Little Yellow," as I placed the round pieces of colored paper onto the leather stage.

His grandchildren were mesmerized by the story (as were the adult passengers sitting within hearing distance). When they got home, Leo showed the children how to make the story into a book. And it was a book they could “read,” even though they were too young to actually know how to read. They were thrilled with their accomplishment. The next night Fabio Coen, a friend who was a children’s book editor, came to dinner at the Lionnis’, saw the little book, and decided, right then and there, to publish it.

But it would take more than one evening with Fabio before I could fully understand how much the simple little tale of two blobs of color would affect my soul, my mind, and my way of life."

Lionni's work has a sense of innocence to it, it uses basic shapes to map out the figure of the animals he's illustrating. Sometimes his typography is made up of found paper which links and collaborates the text with the image. His innovative use of collage, white spaces, and clean, modern design was a major influence on Eric Carle, Ezra Jack Keats, and other children's book artists.