{"id":10913,"date":"2019-03-27T17:41:37","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T21:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=10913"},"modified":"2019-03-27T17:44:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T21:44:59","slug":"tomi-ungerer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2019\/03\/27\/tomi-ungerer\/","title":{"rendered":"Tomi Ungerer\u2019s 1960 Octopus Adventure \u2018Emile\u2019 Is Finally Back In Print"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tomi Ungerer, who died in February, was one of the great fabulists and weirdoes of children\u2019s book illustration. And his razor sharp drawn line punctuated by patches of rich black inspired numerous artists.<\/p>\n

During his 87 years, Ungerer published more than 140 books, ranging from kids picture books to acid political satire to erotica. But they have been hard to find in the United States because after about 1974 he published almost nothing in America. Nothing that is until, happily, Phaidon began publishing his work and bringing old books back into print about a decade ago. (Meanwhile, Steidl\/Diogenes<\/a> plans to publish \u201cAmerica,\u201d a collection of Ungerer 1950s observational drawings in June. And Fantagraphics<\/a> plans to bring his adult books back into print, beginning this fall with \u201cThe Underground Sketchbook.\u201d)<\/p>\n

To give you a sense of Ungerger\u2019s storytelling, among the books Phaidon has returned to print is Ungerer\u2019s 1962 book \u201cThe Three Robbers\u201d about highwaymen who kidnap a (willing) girl, who inspires them to found an orphanage. They\u2019ve also printed 1999\u2019s \u201cOtto,\u201d a mournful tale of a teddy bear who survives the Holocaust, and 2013\u2019s \u201cFog Island,\u201d about an Irish brother and sister who get lost at sea in a fog, land on a mysterious island, and barely make it back home.<\/p>\n

\"Tomi<\/a>
Tomi Ungerer\u2019s charming 1960 kids book \u201cEmile.” (Courtesy Phaidon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phaidon\u2019s latest contribution is the republication of Ungerer\u2019s charming 1960 kids book \u201cEmile,\u201d <\/a>rendered in fine pen line and green and orange washes. It\u2019s about a police diver who runs into difficulties with a shark and is rescued by an octopus named Emile. In thanks, the lawman invites the mollusk home\u2014and into new adventures.<\/p>\n

Ungerer was raised in Strasbourg, France, just across the Rhine River from Germany, and lived under Nazi occupation during World War II. He moved to New York in 1956, where he launched his prolific career as an illustrator, then to Nova Scotia around 1970 or \u201971 and Ireland in 1976.<\/p>\n

\"Tomi<\/a>
Tomi Ungerer\u2019s 1962 book \u201cThe Three Robbers.”
(Courtesy Phaidon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His books, especially the early ones like \u201cEmile,\u201d retain a European air\u2014something in the ornate ironwork, the policemen\u2019s uniforms, the mustaches, berets, the unhurried continental cool. And there is often a sense of being an outsider, of gamely trying to puzzle out the customs of some new place.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmile\u201d echoes Ungerer\u2019s 1958 book \u201cCrictor,\u201d in which an old lady receives a helpful boa constrictor for her birthday. The snake learns the alphabet, plays with children and foils a burglary.<\/p>\n

\"Tomi<\/a>
Tomi Ungerer\u2019s 1960 book \u201cEmile.” (Courtesy Phaidon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like Crictor, Emile holds curious status as part pet, part fish-out-of-water, part derring-doer. Moving in with the lawman, he sleeps in a salt-water-filled bathtub, plays Debussy on several instruments at once, rescues floundering humans as a lifeguard, and entertains people with his astonishing shape-shifting.<\/p>\n

On days off, he helps his policeman pal uncover a band of trigger-happy smugglers, then rescues the officer when he gets into difficulties with the bandits.<\/p>\n

Twice a hero and tired of the landlubber life, Emile retires to the quiet life under the sea. When the lawman (clad in a diving suit) visits, they while away the hours lounging on ornate furniture, playing checkers among potted seaweed plants.<\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Tomi<\/a>
Tomi Ungerer\u2019s 1960 book \u201cEmile.” (Courtesy Phaidon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tomi<\/a>
Tomi Ungerer\u2019s 1960 book \u201cEmile.” (Courtesy Phaidon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomi Ungerer, who died in February, was one of the great fabulists and weirdoes of children\u2019s book illustration. And his razor sharp drawn line punctuated by patches of rich black inspired numerous artists. During his 87 years, Ungerer published more than 140 books, ranging from kids picture books to acid political satire to erotica. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10913"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10946,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10913\/revisions\/10946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}