Tomi Ungerer: All in One

Tomi Ungerer is best known as the award winning author and illustrator of such beloved 1960s children’s classics as The Three Robbers (1961) and Moon Man (1966). But the virtuoso draftsman—who was born in Alsace, France, in 1931, and who currently resides in a remote part of Ireland near Cork—is much more than this. Even as Ungerer was busy producing children’s books for the publisher Harper & Row, he was making a name for himself with witty advertising campaigns for the New York Times and the Village Voice, biting satirical illustrations about the business world, and brutal pictorial responses to racism, fascism, and the Vietnam War. Ungerer also made graphic erotic drawings throughout his career. That Ungerer is not as well known in America today as he is in Europe is largely due to his self-imposed exile c.1970, when he and his wife abruptly abandoned New York and relocated to a farm in Nova Scotia, where Ungerer produced some of his most exquisite drawings to date.
The Drawing Center exhibition is the first career retrospective in the United States dedicated to this extraordinary artist. Beginning with his childhood drawings depicting the Nazi invasion of Strasbourg, through his work in New York and Canada, and concluding with Ungerer’s most recent political and satirical campaigns as well as his illustrations for the 2013 children’s book Fog Island, Tomi Ungerer: All in One will re-introduce this wildly creative individual to New York City and the world. The exhibition will occupy the entire Drawing Center, with a spotlight “exhibition” of Ungerer’s erotic drawings in the Drawing Room and animations in the lower-level Lab gallery.
Curated by Claire Gilman, Curator.
Tomi Ungerer: All in One is made possible by the support of Phaidon Press, Lisa Silver and Jean Castelli, an anonymous gift in honor of Frances Beatty Adler, the Maurice Sendak Foundation, EDF Group, Philippe Castagnet, HarperCollins, Dominque Formhals, Fiona and Eric Rudin, the French Embassy, and L’école des Loisirs.
Special thanks to the Musée Tomi Ungerer-Centre international de l'illustration
PRESS
ARTFORUM - Review
THE NEW YORKER - Tomi Ungerer's Triumpant Return
THE PARIS REVIEW - An Interview with Tomi Ungerer
See more press clips on TomiUngerer.com
Image: Tomi Ungerer, Untitled, 1961 (drawing for The Three Robbers). Collage of cut paper, gouache, and marker on paper, 11 3/4 x 9 1/4 inches. Image courtesy of the Children’s Literature Research Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia.
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Tomi Ungerer, Untitled, 1961 (drawing for The Three Robbers). Collage of cut paper, gouache, and marker on paper
11 3/4 x 9 1/4 inches. Image courtesy of the Children’s Literature Research Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia. -
Tomi Ungerer, Eat, 1967 (political poster). 21 x 26 1/2 inches (43.5 x 67.2 cm).
Collection Rennert’s Gallery, New York. -
Tomi Ungerer, Untitled, 1966 (drawing for The Party, first published 1966 at Paragraphic Books, Grossman Publishers, New York).
Ink and ink wash on paper, 18 x 18 inches.
Collection Musée Tomi Ungerer – Centre international de l’Illustration, Strasbourg.
© Tomi Ungerer/ Diogenes Verlag AG Zürich. Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg / Mathieu Bertola -
Tomi Ungerer, No Parking Please, 1971-1983 (drawing for Slow Agony, first published 1983 at Diogenes Verlag AG, Zürich).
Black grease pencil, black ink and colored ink wash on paper, 23 3/5 x 35 inches.
Collection Musée Tomi Ungerer – Centre international de l’Illustration, Strasbourg
© Tomi Ungerer/ Diogenes Verlag AG Zürich. Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg / Mathieu Bertola -
Tomi Ungerer, Untitled, 2011 (drawing for Fog Island) (First published 2012 as Der Nebelmann at Diogenes Verlag AG, Zürich).
Pastels and black ink, collage on black paper, 16 3/5 x 10 4/5 inches.
Courtesy of the Tomi Ungerer Collection, in deposit to the Tomi Ungerer Museum, Strasbourg
© Tomi Ungerer / Diogenes Verlag AG Zürich. Photo: Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg -
Tomi Ungerer, Untitled, 1962 (drawing for Heart Attack (Der Herzinfarkt), first published 1962 at Diogenes Verlag AG, Zürich).
Ink and conte on tracing paper, 4 3/10 x 6 1/2 inches.
Courtesy of the Tomi Ungerer Museum - International center for Illustration Collection, Strasbourg.
© Diogenes Verlag AG Zürich / Tomi Ungerer. Photo: Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg / Mathieu Bertola