Janosch's style is reminiscent of some of the work of John Burningham (1936), Max Velthuijs (1923–2005) David McKee (1935). A style of the late sixties and early seventies, with bold pattern and often garish, strong colour juxtaposition. Bollerbam was published in 1968.
Janosch (Horst Eckert) was born in Hindenburg in 1931. He worked initially in a textile factory before attending art college in Munich and then becoming a freelance artist. He has created over a hundred books for children many in an almost comic strip style, but I love these richer, bolder illustrations from his earlier books.
I wonder how one becomes a children's book illustrator. Perhaps there are courses now, just for that purpose but in the sixties and seventies? Perhaps they approached a publisher directly, then.
ReplyDeleteThere are courses now Lesley, but mostly it is determination and persistence. In the 50's and 60's
Deletethey worked as comercial graphic designers and were probably invited to do illustrated covers and texts first. Plus there were opportunities in papers, comics etc