This February: Celebrating the Evolution of the “American Line” in Children’s Book Illustration
- lindsey4824
- Feb 4
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 28
If we asked you to draw a dog you might start by drawing a head with floppy ears, a big nose, and maybe even a tongue. Those lines, without any shading or color, are what’s referred to as linework. Though you might not always think about it, an artist’s linework has a major impact on the overall style and feel of their illustrations.
All this month we’re celebrating children’s book creators whose linework is not only unique, but also demonstrates the evolution of illustrative linework in the United States throughout the 20th century. We hope you’ll join us for Story Hours, Family Night, and adult programming celebrating Ludwig Bemelmans, Paul Galdone, Robert McCloskey, and Jerry Pinkney.
Ludwig Bemelmans 1898-1962
Just like Madeline, his most famous creation, Ludwig Bemelmans grew up feeling different and was often in trouble. He was born in Austria, but after his father abandoned the family, Ludwig and his mother lived in Bavaria. He struggled in school, so his mother sent him to work in his uncle’s hotels. When that arrangement soured, he immigrated to the United States. Though he was only 16, he was able to find work in some of New York’s best hotels. His illustrations from his time working at the Ritz-Carlton embody his energetic and exaggerated, yet minimalistic style.
In 1917 Ludwig enlisted in the U.S. Army, and due to his German heritage and concerns about allegiances, he served stateside during World War I. After the war he resumed working in hotels and began creating comics and other illustrations. In 1934 he published his first children’s book, Hansi. In the 1930s Ludwig also found success writing and illustrating articles for adults.
Madeline was published in 1939 and was an instant success. Ludwig created four more Madeline books, publishing a total of 18 books for children and 22 books for adults during his lifetime. He also painted and dabbled in interior design. In 1947 he painted murals that still cover the walls of the Carlyle Hotel cocktail bar. As payment for the murals, Ludwig and his family lived at the hotel for a year and a half.
In his 1954 speech accepting the Caldecott Medal for Madeline’s Rescue, Ludwig said of his artistic and professional journey, “I wanted to paint purely that which gave me pleasure, scenes that interested me; and one day I found that the audience for that kind of painting was a vast reservoir of impressionists who did very good work themselves, who were very clear-eyed and capable of enthusiasm. I addressed myself to children.”
Want to try your hand at drawing Madeline? Find a tutorial and more fun games on the Madeline website.
Ludwig created dozens of covers for The New Yorker magazine.
Paul Galdone 1907-1986
Paul Galdone also immigrated to the United States as a young man. Born in Budapest, Hungary, his family came to New Jersey when was just 14. He said that while he struggled to learn English, he excelled at drawing grasshoppers for himself and the other students in biology class.
The Galdones moved to New York City, where Paul took on a variety of day jobs including bus boy, electrician's helper, and fur-dyer to help support the family. At night he studied art at the Art Student's League and New York School for Industrial Design. He worked for several years in the art department at Doubleday & Company, where designing book jackets set him on a career path dedicated to children’s books.
During WWII, Paul was drafted into the U.S. Army, where used his artistic skills to create a type of camouflage helmet attachment that made a crouching soldier look like a tree stump. When it was discovered he could draw, he was assigned to the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, creating illustrations for training manuals, posters and more.
After the war, Paul returned to the publishing world. During his career he created nearly 300 children’s books, including 10 Anatole books with Eve Titus, making him one of the most prolific children’s book creators of the 20th century. None of his success would have been possible without his wife, Jannelise. The two met in a night class for life drawing and married at New York’s City Hall in 1941. After getting married their “honeymoon” was a trip to the theatre to see Dumbo.
Jannelise not only managed the Galdone household, including overseeing the construction of their home and studio; she was also Paul’s toughest and most honest critic.
Given the amount and variety of work Paul created, it’s challenging to summarize his style. But whether an illustration for Yank Magazine during WWII or one his many retellings of classic fairy tales, his linework is clean and accessible.
From a young age he enjoyed drawing from life, and when illustrating books he’d cajole those around him into modeling for photographs that he could use for visual reference. Learn more about his methods at paulgaldone.com.
Robert McCloskey 1914-2003
Robert McCloskey also committed himself to intensely studying the subjects he drew and wrote about. Born in Ohio, he attended Vesper George School of Art in Boston and National Academy of Design in New York City, where Marc Simont was his roommate. While the two were living together, Robert kept four mallard ducks in their apartment bathroom so that he could study them for Make Way for Ducklings.
“... no effort is too great to find out as much as possible about the things you are drawing,” Robert said. “It’s a good feeling to be able to put down a line and know that it is right.”
When he first began creating children’s books, he brought a series of woodcuts based on Norse mythology to legendary Viking Press editor May Masse (she was also Ludwig Bemelmans’ editor.) She told him, “Lighten up. And go home and write about what you know.”
And he did just that. Whether a midwestern boyhood portrayed in Lentil and Homer Price, or the natural beauty of coastal Maine in Blueberries for Sal and Burt Dow Deep-Water Man, Robert’s simple and precise lines capture his subjects with warmth and depth.
In total Robert wrote and illustrated eight books and created illustrations for ten others. He was the first children’s book creator to win two Caldecott Medals (Make Way for Ducklings 1942, Time of Wonder 1958) and also won three Caldecott honors.
Robert retired from creating children’s books in 1970 and focused on painting and also made puppets with encouragement from his friend Morton Schindel, who was the founder of Weston Woods. With hopes of producing a show for television, he created intricate mechanisms for his puppets. From a young age Robert loved to tinker and invent various things, including a batch of garlic peanut butter. His daughter Jane notes in Robert McCloskey: A Private Life in Words and Pictures that, “he liked garlic in practically everything,” and that the garlic peanut butter was “terrible.”
In 1977, Robert recorded an interview with Profiles in Literature, a series produced by Temple University Associate Professor-Emerita of children's literature Dr. Jaqueline Schachter Weiss and Coordinator of the Office of Work with Children at the Free Library of Philadelphia Carolyn W. Field.
Listen to him reflect on his career and sources of inspiration.
Jerry Pinkney 1939 - 2021
Jerry Pinkney was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his talent for drawing was noticed and encouraged from a young age. Jerry recalled drawing when he was just four or five years old, and the praise he got for his art helped keep him engaged and encouraged in school. His memoir Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life is full of reflections and drawings from his childhood.
Jerry won a scholarship to the Philadelphia Museum College of Art where he studied advertising and design. His first jobs included hand lettering and typography, and working for Rust Craft Greeting Cards. In 1964 he illustrated his first book, The Adventures of Spider: a West African Folk Tale.
In the 1990s Jerry created new illustrations for The Adventures of Spider that reflect the intricate and expressive style he used for the majority of his career.
“I love the act of making marks on paper, and seeing those marks develop into a picture. How rewarding it is to just sit, observe, and paint!” Jerry said. “But I am a storyteller at heart, which is why I was drawn to picture books. Each project begins with the question, ‘Is this story worth telling? Is the manuscript an interesting read? Is it surprising and challenging? Will I, in the process of making pictures, learn something new?’ With these questions answered, I let the text speak to me. The style in which a story is written will offer me clues and give direction.”
Over the course of his career, during which he created more than 100 books, Jerry understood the importance of sharing African American stories with joy, resilience and respect. His collaborations with Julius Lester epitomize this approach. Their book Sam and the Tigers is an indispensable retelling of the 1899 book, Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman. With the permission of the Lester and Pinkney estates, The Rabbit hOle’s publishing arm, Rabbit hOle Worldwide, created a special edition of the book in 2024 to sell at the Lucky Rabbit bookstore and accompany our Sam and the Tigers exhibit.
Since his passing in 2021 several of Jerry’s books have been completed and published posthumously, including A Walk in the Woods, which was completed with the help of Jerry’s son, children’s book creator Brian Pinkney.
