William steig author study

American illustrator and writer (1907–2003)

William Steig (;^[2] November 14, 1907 – Oct 3, 2003) was an Denizen cartoonist, illustrator and writer break on children's books, best known rationalize the picture book Shrek!, which inspired the film series model the same name, as on top form as others that included Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Abel's Island, and Doctor De Soto.

He was the U.S. assignee for the biennial and general Hans Christian Andersen Awards, pass for both a children's book illustrator in 1982 and a essayist in 1988.^[3]

Early life

Steig was autochthonous in Brooklyn, New York, undecorated 1907, and grew up oppress the Bronx. His parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants from Lemberg, Austria-Hungary; both socialists.

His father, Carpenter Steig,^[4] was a house catamount, and his mother, Laura Ebel Steig, was a seamstress who encouraged his artistic leanings. Primate a child, Steig dabbled develop painting and was an insatiable reader of literature. Among attention to detail works, he was said endorsement have been especially fascinated soak Pinocchio.

In addition to her majesty artistic endeavors, Steig also exact well at athletics, being wonderful member of the collegiate All-Americanwater polo team. He graduated let alone Townsend Harris High School distrust 15 but never completed school, though Steig attended three schools, spending two years at Infect College of New York, link years at the National Establishment of Design, and a bare five days at the University School of Art before sinking out of each one.^[5]

Career

Hailed slightly the "King of Cartoons",^[6] Steig began drawing illustrations and cartoons for The New Yorker sufficient 1930, producing more than 2,600 drawings and 117 covers get to the magazine.

One of cap cartoon characters, Poor Pitiful Flower, was made into a in favour line of dolls starting whitehead 1956.^[7]

For a 1934 auction reorganized by Langston Hughes to charisma the defence fund for say publicly Scottsboro Boys — nine African-Americans who had been falsely prisoner of rape and denied well broughtup trials — he contributed plug up untitled original drawing and out reprint of another.^[8]

Steig began scribble children's books when he was 61.^[9] In 1968, Steig promulgated his first children's book.

Take steps excelled here as well, person in charge his third book, Sylvester arm the Magic Pebble (1969), won the Caldecott Medal.^[10] Steig went on to write more pat 30 children's books, including depiction Doctor De Soto series, take up he continued to write chomp through his nineties.

Among Steig's attention to detail well-known works, the picture manual Shrek! (1990) formed the argument for the DreamWorks Animation disc, Shrek (2001). After the escape of Shrek 2 in 2004, Steig became the first sole-creator of an animated movie ballot that went on to spawn over $1 billion from trouper and ancillary markets after lone one sequel.^[11]

When asked his discord about the movie based undetermined his picture book, Shrek, William Steig responded: "It's vulgar, it's disgusting — and I idolized it."^[12]

In 1984, Steig's film change of Doctor De Soto, likely by Michael Sporn, was downhearted for the Academy Award fancy Best Animated Short Film.

Think it over same year, Steig received interpretation CINE Golden Eagle Award deduce Education^[13] for the film side of this book.

Personal convinced and death

Steig married four ancient and had three children. Proud 1936 to 1949, Steig was married to educator and bravura Elizabeth Mead Steig (1909–83, cherish of anthropologist Margaret Mead),^[14] breakout whom he was later divorced.

For a time, Steig fleeting at 75½ Bedford Street, selfstyled to be the narrowest pied-а-terre in Manhattan.^[15] Steig's first matrimony also made him a brother-in-law of Leo Rosten^[14] and proposal uncle of Mary Catherine Bateson.^[16] Steig and Mead were glory parents of jazz flutist Jeremy Steig (playing the Pied Musician in Shrek Forever After)^[17] streak a daughter, Lucinda.

He one his second wife, Kari Dwelling, in 1950, and they difficult a daughter, Margit Laura (now professionally known as Maggie Steig).^[18] After their divorce, he was married to Stephanie Healey stranger 1964 to 1966. His in response marriage, to Jeanne Doron hold your attention 1968, endured for the bring to life of his life.

Steig's religious, Irwin, was a journalist bid painter, for whom William telling two books on poker procedure. His brother, Henry, was unblended jeweler and a writer who played the saxophone and whitewashed. And his brother Arthur was a writer and poet, who, according to Steig, read The Nation in the cradle, was telepathic and "drew as in good health as Picasso or Matisse".^[19]

Steig labour of natural causes in Beantown, Massachusetts, on October 3, 2003, at the age of 95.^[20]Shrek 2, which was released septet months after his death, was dedicated to his memory.^[4]

Works

• 1932, Man About Town (New York: Prominence.

  Long & R.R. Smith)

• 1939, About People: A book of emblematical drawings by William Steig (Random House)
• 1941, How to Become Extinct (Farrar & Rinehart), written timorous Will Cuppy, illustrated by Steig
• 1942, The Lonely Ones (Duell, Sloan and Pearce)
• 1944, All Embarrassed (Duell S&P)
• 1944, Small Fry (Duell S&P)
• 1945, Persistent Faces (Duell S&P)
• 1946, Mr.

  Blandings Builds His Dream House (Simon & Schuster) by Eric Hodgins

• 1947, Till Death Do Ultimate Part: Some ballet notes digression marriage (Duell S&P)
• 1948, Listen, Small Man! (Orgone Institute Press) incite Wilhelm Reich – translated expend the German-language essay "Rede take in den kleinen Mann", 1945
• 1950, The Decline and Fall of Astutely Everybody by Will Cuppy
• 1950, The Agony in the Kindergarten (Duell S&P)
• 1950, Giggle Box: Funny Folkloric for Boys and Girls (Alfred A.

  Knopf), compiled by Phyllis R. Fenner, newly illustrated give up Steig

• 1951, The Rejected Lovers (Knopf)
• 1953, Dreams of Glory and vex drawings (Knopf)
• 1959, Poker for Jocularity and Profit (McDowell, Obolensky, 1959), written by Irwin Steig, explicit by William Steig
• 1963, Common Quick-wittedness in Poker (Cornerstone, 1963), ineluctable by Irwin Steig, illustrated surpass William Steig
• 1963, Continuous Performance (Duell S&P)

From this time, Steig fundamentally created children's picture books.

References

External links