Between Worlds: The Autobiography of Leo Lionni - Hardcover

Lionni, Leo

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679423931 ISBN 13: 9780679423935

Publisher: Knopf, 1997

Synopsis

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.

About this title

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.

About the Author:

Leo Lionni is the author of three books for adults and thirty for children. His art has been shown in galleries around the world. Now in his mid-eighties, he lives in Radda in Chianti, Italy.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0679423931
• ISBN 13: 9780679423935
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 295