Bemelmans: The Life and Art of Madeline's Creator - Hardcover

Marciano, John Bemelmans

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067088460X ISBN 13: 9780670884605

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers, 1999

Synopsis

This elegantly designed and lavishly illustrated book showcases Bemelmans’ art and writing and illuminates the relationship between the man and his work. Bemelmans’ fascinating life story is told through letters, photographs, illustrations, paintings, sketches, and excerpts from both his published writings and his private journals, selected by his grandson, John Bemelmans Marciano.

Although Ludwig Bemelmans is best known for his Madeline books, his creative life ex-tended far beyond the “old house in Paris.” He was a novelist and a non-fiction writer, as well as a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Vogue, Holiday, and Town and Country.  He painted murals at the Carlyle Hotel, in the bar that bears his name, and planned to collaborate on a book with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Late in his life, Bemelmans decided to pursue his lifelong desire to paint with oils, and the stunning results are showcased here.

Throughout his life he was a celebrated bon vivant who experienced a rich variety of places, personalities, and professions.  Little wonder that Print Magazine found his biography “richly colored with a sense of  Bemelmans’s joie de vivre”.

About this title

Review:

"We are writing for Children but not for Idiots." Madeline's creator was a man of strong opinions, which always makes for a fascinating life. His legacy was Madeline; however, Ludwig Bemelmans was also a novelist, a muralist, a nonfiction writer, a screenwriter, an oil painter, and an all-around bon vivant. In this elegant account, Bemelmans's life story is told through paintings, sketches, letters, photographs, and excerpts from published and unpublished writings. Fans of the stories about the charmingly impetuous little orphan girl (Mad About Madeline) will be dazzled by the rest of Bemelmans's artistic body of work, as well as by his irrepressible spirit. Entertaining tidbits will amuse and amaze: once, on a trip to Germany, Bemelmans placed his cigar stub over his lip and launched into a Hitler impression near a crowd of Nazi supporters. Thinking nothing more about it, he and his wife returned to their hotel, where his wife, on a lark, painted the sleeping Bemelmans's toes pink. The next day he was arrested for his little prank. When his toenails were discovered, the police tossed him in the cell for homosexuals!

John Bemelmans Marciano, grandson of Bemelmans, provides a running text to guide the readers through Bemelmans's own words and pictures, providing a shape to the life story that will leave admirers of Madeline and her creator thoroughly satisfied. --Emilie Coulter

About the Author:

John Bemelmans Marciano feels that the writing and research for this book gave him an opportunity to get to know the grandfather he never met. Although he has always felt his grandfather’s presence—through stories told by his mother and grandmother, books read to him as a child, and the artwork that filled his house—this project helped him to fit the pieces together.

John has continued his grandfather’s legacy with four new books about Madeline: Madeline Says Merci, Madeline and the Cats of Rome, Madeline at the White House, and Madeline and the Old House in Paris. He is also the author of two books for adults: Anonyponymous and the upcoming What Ever Happened to the Metric System.

John grew up on a horse farm in New Jersey and attended Columbia University in New York. He currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 067088460X
• ISBN 13: 9780670884605
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160
• Illustrator: Bemelmans Ludwig