Anita Lobel
Anita Lobel was recently honored by the University of South Carolina with the 2016 Thomas Cooper Medal which recognizes distinction in the arts and sciences.
Anita Lobel was recently the featured cover story in the highly regarded Swedish magazine of graphic arts and illustration, Tecknaren.
The quote on the cover: “TO HEAR PICTURES"
The interview was conducted by Caroline Roberts, a Swedish painter and illustrator.
“Anita Lobel survived the Holocaust.
She lives to tell story telling pictures.
The heart of this well known survivor and creator dwells in New York and Stockholm.
“I think of the pictures in my books as scenes staged in plays. There is timing in the progression of page to page. Music has always been important to me. Rhythm and timing in the turning of pages are informed by music.
“”Depending on pace of a story, the pictures are sometimes a continuing series of moment to moment variations.
Other times a big picture may summarize characters and aspects of the story telling.
During the past several years there have been numerous retrospective exhibitions of the work. Connected to a personal appearance, one large show commenced at The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature[NCCIL] in Abilene, Texas. The exhibition traveled to several museums and libraries throughout the Southwest. It spent two months at the Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.
Aside from these larger retrospectives, over the years, I have had pictures included in group shows, i.e. The Society of Illustrators in New York City, The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, a one person show at Every Picture Tells a Story in Los Angeles, and others..
In January 2016, I was invited to Wesleyan University, Illinois, to give several talks in connection with my autobiography ”No Pretty Pictures”, [not a picture book], which deals with my experience as a child in Poland, and subsequent incarceration in concentration camps during the Hitler years. And, after liberation in 1945, life and school in Stockholm, Sweden.
Since it’s publication, “No Pretty Pictures” has won many citations. It was also a finalist for The National Book Award.
The retrospective of pictures from picture books, which commenced at NCCIL in Abilene again, was exhibited at the university gallery.
I have donated a large part of illustrations from my children’s books to the permanent collection of the Thomas Cooper Collection of rare manuscripts at the University of South Carolina in Columbia SC. At the moment the library has mounted a fine exhibition of the work.
Following are photos of the exhibition which opened in November 2016 and will be on view until March 2017. Subsequently, the collection will be available to teachers and librarians for research and study.
