Between Worlds: The Autobiography of Leo Lionni [Hardcover]

Leo Lionni (Author)

Book Description

Here, sumptuously illustrated, is a superbly written account of a remarkable life--a life spent divided between Europe and America, between art and commerce--by the famous artist, art director, and children's book author Leo Lionni.

Born in Holland, half Jewish, raised in Amsterdam, Brussels, Genoa, Philadelphia--Lionni is a man of many languages and cultures but no real home. His story is one of a constant search, a search that takes him from an ideal early childhood to a strict education in Italy that proved largely irrelevant to his future, and then to exile from Fascist Italy in America; from being a highly political aspiring artist to becoming a highly successful advertising director (he invented the famous "Never underestimate the power of a woman"  campaign) and a powerful force in the world of graphics as the art director of Fortune magazine; from life in the affluent commuter world of Connecticut to a return to Italy and the life of an artist. After all this--a full life by any account--he finds yet another successful vocation as the author and illustrator of children's books that have sold millions of copies throughout the world.

Lionni tells his story--it encompasses his early romance and happy marriage, and his countless extraordinary friends and acquaintances--in the most elegant and persuasive prose, the kind of English that only a distinguished European can write. And since his story is also the story of a lifetime of creativity, throughout the book are examples, in color and black-and-white, of his remarkable body of work--painting, sculpture, ceramics, mosaics, photography, graphics, and, of course, illustration. This is an autobiography both of great intellectual and artistic sophistication and of large human appeal.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ask different people who Leo Lionni is and you might get different answers: a children's book author, a graphic designer, a lecturer, teacher, art director--in short, a 20th century Renaissance man. Now the man, who is 87 years old and still hard at work, answers for himself in the autobiography Between Worlds. Readers who know Lionni's work will take pleasure in learning more about it; those who are only now coming to know of the man will find much to amaze and inspire them in the details of his life. Born in Amsterdam in 1910, Lionni developed an interest in art early. By the time he was 30 he had lived in at least five countries, learned four languages, and taught himself a great deal about art, architecture, music, and literature.

Throughout his life Lionni has had a happy knack for being in the right place at the right time. After fleeing the fascism rolling through Europe, he found himself an assistant art director at a Philadelphia advertising agency. There his talent and genius found an outlet in the ambitious "Great Ideas of Man" campaign, which put his name on the map and brought him into contact with some of the great artists of the day. He gathered friends and acquaintances of the caliber of Man Ray, Piet Mondrian, and Andy Warhol. Today Lionni lives on a farm in Tuscany and is hard at work on a series of fables for children. His first 87 years have been so remarkable, one can't help but wish he had another 87 ahead.

From Library Journal

Although perhaps best known for his award-winning picture books (e.g., Frederick, Swimmy, Inch by Inch), Lionni has worn many hats during his fascinating life. Born in Amsterdam in 1910 and raised in several European countries and the United States, Lionni grew up surrounded by a cosmopolitan, artistic family who encouraged his early endeavors. After starting his career as a futurist painter in Italy, he became a graphic designer; throughout his life, he struggled with the desire to be an unfettered artist and his attraction to lucrative, prestigious jobs. His restlessness, his "gnawing need for continuous, unobstructed mobility," and his wish to defend himself "from the threat of a predictable future" allowed him to experiment successfully in various fields. His memoir describes the many personalities he met and befriended along the way and includes both family photographs and numerous examples of his art work. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.?Ilse Heidmann, San Marcos, Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (April 7, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679423931
• ISBN-13: 978-0679423935
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #252,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

author spotlight
"From time to time, from the endless flow of our mental imagery, there emerges unexpectedly something that, vague though it may be, seems to carry the promise of a form, a meaning, and, more important, an irresistible poetic charge."--Leo Lionni

Leo Lionni wrote and illustrated more than 40 highly acclaimed children's books. He received the 1984 American Institute of Graphic Arts Gold Medal and was a four-time Caldecott Honor Winner--for Inch by Inch, Frederick, Swimmy, and Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse. Leo Lionni died in October of 1999 at his home in Tuscany, Italy, at the age of 89.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

"Of all the questions I have been asked as an author of children's books, the most frequent one, without doubt, has been 'How do you get your ideas?' Most people seem to think that getting an idea is both mysterious and simple. Mysterious, because inspiration must come from a particular state of grace with which only the most gifted souls are blessed. Simple, because ideas are expected to drop into one's mind in words and pictures, ready to be transcribed and copied in the form of a book, complete with endpapers and cover. The word get expresses these expectations well. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

"It is true that, from time to time, from the endless flow of our mental imagery, there emerges unexpectedly something that, vague though it may be, seems to carry the promise of a form, a meaning, and, more important, an irresistible poetic charge. The sense of instant recognition with which we pull this image into the full light of our consciousness is the initial impulse of all creative acts. But, though it is important, it produces no more than the germ of an idea. Each book, at the birth of its creative history, has such a moment. Some are fortunate enough to have, from the outset, a strongly identified hero, one with an inescapable destiny. Others are blessed with a promising beginning, or perhaps with the vision of an ending (which means working backwards to a surprise opening). Others stem from a clearly articulated conflict situation. Sometimes, I must admit, the motivations of a book may be found in a sudden, unreasonable urge to draw a certain kind of crocodile. And it may even happen that in the dark of our minds there appears, out of nowhere, a constellation of words that has the bright, arrogant solidity of a title. Only last night I was jolted out of a near-slumber by the words the mouse that didn't exist. I am sure that, temporarily tucked away in my memory, they will eventually become the title of a story for which as yet I have no idea.

"To shape and sharpen the logic of a story, to tighten the flow of events, ultimately to define the idea in its totality, is much like a game of chess. In the light of overall strategy, each move is the result of doubts, proposals, and rejections, which inevitably bring to mind the successes or failures of previous experiences.

"Inspirational raptures may happen, but most books are shaped through hard, disciplined work. Creative work, to be sure, because its ingredients come from the sphere of the imaginary. But the manipulation of these ingredients requires much more than mere inclination or talent. It is an intricate process in which the idea slowly takes form, by trial and error, through detours and side roads, which, were it not for the guidance of professional rigor, would lead the author into an inextricable labyrinth of alternatives.

"And so, to the question 'How do you get your ideas?' I am tempted to answer, unromantic though it may sound, 'Hard work.' "


Leo Lionni has gained international renown for his paintings, graphic designs, illustrations, and sculpture, as well as for his books for children. He was born in Holland in 1910 of Dutch parents, and although his education did not include formal art courses (in fact, he has a doctorate in economics from the University of Genoa), he spent much of his free time as a child in Amsterdam's museums, teaching himself to draw.

Lionni's business training gradually receded into the background as his interest in art and design grew. Having settled in Milan soon after his marriage in 1931, he started off by writing about European architecture for a local magazine. It was there that he met the contacts who were to give him a start as a professional graphic designer. When he moved to America in 1939, Lionni was hired by a Philadelphia advertising agency as art director. Later he became design director for the Olivetti Corporation of America, and then art director for Fortune magazine. At the same time, his reputation as an artist flourished as he began to exhibit his paintings and drawings in galleries from New York to Japan.

Lionni launched his career as an author/illustrator of books for children in 1959. Originally developed from a story he had improvised for his grandchildren during a dull train ride, Little Blue and LittleYellow was the first of what is now a long list of children's picture books, including four Caldecott Honor Books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What a Life!, December 31, 2004

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Between Worlds: The Autobiography of Leo Lionni (Hardcover)

In the US Leo Lionni designed the catalogue for Edward Steichen's big FAMILY OF MAN photo show in the 1950s, and so blame it on Lionni--blame WE ARE THE WORLD on him too. He gave Andy Warhol his start drawing pictures of women's shoes in advertising. And he designed the Ab-Ex inspired US pavilion at the 1958 Brussells Worlds Fair. He was a protege of Marinetti and felt a kinship with the Italian futurists, although he knew in his heart of hearts he was not a Futurist himself. At the same time Fascism was descending upon Italy and Lionni knew too many Communists. So he left his wife and little Mannie and Paolo and moved to Philadelphia. Later, Paolo died under mysterious circumstances, a death so bitter and poignant that poor Lionni can't even tell the reader what happened in simple sentences, but I take it that he either died of heroin overdose, AIDS or suicide. Nora was the name of Mme. Lionni, and she is pictured here as a saint, the perfect wife like Nora in the THIN MAN movies, plus sexy like Myrna Loy or indeed Nora Barnacle the wife of James Joyce. In all the photos she is distinctively stylish, as befits one who has lived in Genoa and Naples and Milan.

Among the interesting adventures of Lionni in America was his stint at Black Mountain College. I've read a lot of accounts written by people who went to Black Mountain (in North Carolina) and his is among the best, for he met there Jean Varda and Jacob Lawrence, and the Gropiuses among others, all in one ecstatically remembered summer right after World War II. Anyone interested in Black Mountain College might well go out and buy this book just for the chapter on BMC. Lionni also has fond memories of Alexander Calder, and Leger, and Man Ray, which will take the bitter taste out of the mouths of Man Ray fans who were stung last year to find out that their hero might have worked in concert with the Black Dahlia killer (in the book BLACK DAHLIA AVENGER, a very good book but harsh on Man Ray!) This book presents the human, funny side of Man. Lionni was an okay designer and an okay painter, nothing to write home about, but evidently he bloomed when he started writing books for children. Maybe the death of his own boy, Paolo, heightened his sensitivity to what children like and don't like. As of this writing he is still going at age 94, still creating his precious little books for kids. This memoir has its dull spells, but they are largely because Lionni's style is not really English at all, but some hybrid blend of Babelfish and Socialist cliches.

5.0 out of 5 stars One superb book, December 9, 2007

By 

Anna Kusiak (Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Between Worlds: The Autobiography of Leo Lionni (Hardcover)

An excellent autobiography. A genuine and a very interesting book which could be written only by somebody with as rich experience as Mr.Lionni's.