Elsa Henriquez Muñoz I

These illustrations are from 'Cuentos para niños no tan buenos' written by Jacques Prévert and illustrated by Elsa Henriquez Muñoz and first published in 1947.
The illustrations are strange, surreal, quirky and naive and bring to mind the illustrative work that both Edward Lear and Spike Miligan made to support their Limericks and rhymes.

Elsa Henriquez Muñoz an Argentinian, was the daughter of dancer Helba Huara (see below) and musician Gonzalo Morè.

She lived in  Paris and was friends with many of the Surrealists and intellectuals of the city such as Cesar Vallejo, Neruda, Anais Nin, Henry Miller, Carpentier and Octavio Paz. She worked as a graphic designer and made scenery for theatre. Her illustration work appears almost exclusively in books by the poet Jacques Prévert.

(Above) Photograph by Emile Savitry of Elsa and some of her Argentinian friends.

In 1940 she married painter and photographer Emile Savitry they were married until his death in 1967. Elsa died in her adopted city of Paris in 2010.