EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY LAUREATE OF H. C. ANDERSEN AWARD FOR ILLUSTRATION - ROTRAUT SUSANNE BERNER, GERMANY

Rotraut Susanne Berner, Germany, Laureate of H. C. Andersen Award for Illustration 2016

The artist was born in 1948 in Stuttgart, graduated from a Munich Fachhochschule in graphics design and then worked in the advertising industry; since 1977 she has focused on illustrating and writing books. At present she is among the most successful illustrators and book designers in Germany; she has illustrated more than 80 books and designed about 800 book covers.

Most of the books she illustrated are picture books for children that tell stories without words. Her idea is that words and illustrations are equally important in a book and she seeks to wipe away the boundaries between them and in this way to make words become images and images to become words. She combines fantastic representation with a realistic one in a single picture. In her illustrations animals dance, houses swim and fish fly. Children when going through the pages of her books not only develop their memories and sense of observation but also extend their vocabulary.

The artist uses various visual art techniques, including combining line drawing and Indian ink drawing with brush painting and linocut. She also uses flat screen printing, in which she draws directly onto the film so that the original is produced only after printing.

She is a very active promoter of illustration and illustrators. In the 1990s she co-founded “Illustratoren Treffpunkt” (Illustrator Meeting Point) at the Book Fair in Frankfurt. In 2005 she became part of “Stifttung Illustrations” (Illustration Foundation) that organizes workshops, exhibitions and publishes an annual Illustrator Lexicon that presents illustrators from German-speaking countries. She is the editor of the Tolle Hefte series, a limited magazine edition illustrated by international artists.

Her works have been granted several awards, including the 2006 Extraordinary Award for Illustration from Deutschen Jugendliteraturpreises and the H. C. Andersen Award for Illustration in 2016.

Sehr bekannt sind ihre Karlchen-Bücher und die fünf Wimmelbücher : "Winter-Wimmelbuch", "Frühlings-Wimmelbuch", "Sommer-Wimmelbuch", "Herbst-Wimmelbuch" und "Nacht-Wimmelbuch", die alle im fiktiven Städtchen "Wimmlingen" spielen.

                                                                                              Mgr. Viera Anoškinová

                                                                                              Head of BIB Secretariat