Michael Foreman (author/illustrator)

Michael Foreman (born 21 March 1938) is a British author and illustrator, one of the best-known and most prolific creators of children's books.[1] He won the 1982 and 1989 Kate Greenaway Medals for British children's book illustration and he was a commended runner up five times (a distinction dropped after 2002).[2][lower-alpha 1]

For his contribution as a children's illustrator he was U.K. nominee in 1988 and again in 2010 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books.[3][4]

Life

He was born and grew up in Pakefield, near Lowestoft, Suffolk, where his mother kept the village shop.[5][6] He studied at Lowestoft School of Art, and later in London at the Royal College of Art,[7] where he won a scholarship to the United States.

He lives in London (2010).[8]

Approach to illustration

Foreman learned to respond instantly to text as an art student.[9] Having drawn for the newspapers and for the police, drawing female suspects when Identikit only catered for men, he gained valuable drawing experience. A travel scholarship took him all around the world, drawing landscapes, architecture and wildlife. Although many of his books feature luminous watercolours, it is the drawing that he sees as vital: "It's all in the drawing and illustration. It's a question of creating another world, believable in its own right. I think I was very lucky to have started art school so young when they actually taught Art. It was a rigorous training - not just painting and drawing from life - but hours of anatomy and perspective. ... it really taught you to understand what you were looking at."[9] His aim in illustration is to make the worlds created believable, real: "I keep trying to make things more real, not in a literal photographic sense, but in an emotional sense , telling a story by capturing the essence of the situation, giving it some meaning."[9]

Selected works

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Today there are usually eight books on the Greenaway shortlist. According to CCSU, some runners-up through 2002 were Commended (from 1959) or Highly Commended (from 1974). There were 99 commendations of both kinds in 44 years including three each for 1978, 1980, and 1983; two each for 1985 and 1993. There were 31 high commendations in 29 years including Foreman alone in 1980.
    • No one has won three Greenaway Medals. Among the fourteen illustrators with two Medals, Foreman is one of seven with at least one highly commended runner up (1974–2002), led by Helen Oxenbury with four. He is their leader with five commendations of both kinds.

References

  1. ↑ "Michael Foreman: 50 years of picture books". The Guardian. 22 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Kate Greenaway Medal". 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  3. ↑ "2010 HCA Winners and Finalists". International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).
      "Hans Christian Andersen Awards". IBBY. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  4. ↑ "Candidates for the Hans Christian Andersen Awards 1956–2002". The Hans Christian Andersen Awards, 1956–2002. IBBY. Gyldendal. 2002. Pages 110–18. Hosted by Austrian Literature Online (literature.at). Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  5. ↑ Triggs, Pat (March 1983). "Authorgraph No.19: Michael Foreman". Books for Keeps 19. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  6. ↑ "Michael Foreman". Puffin Books. Penguin Books. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  7. ↑ "Writers: Michael Foreman". British Council: Literature. Retrieved 2012-12-20. The Biography and the Critical Perspective are mainly hidden.
  8. ↑ "The General" (Reprint Edition, Templar, 2010). Amazon.com product description. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
  9. 1 2 3 "Michael Foreman". Magic Pencil. The British Library.
  10. ↑ (Carnegie Winner 1980). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  11. ↑ (Greenaway Winner 1982a). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  12. ↑ (Greenaway Winner 1982b). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  13. ↑ "Kurt Maschler Awards". Book Awards. bizland.com. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  14. ↑ (Greenaway Winner 1989). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-07-16.

External links

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