Thursday, January 19, 2006
Tomi Ungerer
If you don't know who Tomi is, it's well worth checking out his stuff. he has a huge range of material from children's books, to erotica and everything in between.
Some of his books are available on Amazon
including Erotoscope which is a collection of his erotic art, such as this one - a very tame example, but hey there might be kids looking ;)
It's his children's books which made him most famous according to all the biographies out there, with illustrations such as this one:
Tomi has come under fire in the past it seems for producing both children's books and erotica, but Tomi is quoted as saying in response to a public attack from librarians "Without fucking, no children and without children, you’d all be out of work. I draw the fucking and I draw for the children born as a result!" (I was unable to verify the quote at this time! But I wouldn't be surprised...)
Not that producing erotica as well as kids books is the only thing Tomi Ungerer has come under fire for, according to one site I visited his political art resulted in exile from the US.
Apprently Tomi created anti Vietnam art at the time and some folks didn't like it much!
I don't know if this poster is from that era, but I suspect it is. It's one of my favourite pieces of Tomi's (that I know of, he's so prolific I'd say I've only seen a tiny tiny tiny fraction of his work!). Whenever it was drawn it's incredibly valid still:
Tomi was kind enough to sign a book for me, a book I found in a second hand store which was created from an exhibition put together by the Museums of the City of Strasbourg in, I think, 1981:
Tomi's signing of the book is a work of art in itself - click on it for a larger version:
An amazing artist, well worth looking up his stuff if you haven't already. I'll leave you with this link to a few sketches from Tomi Ungerer: Compromises.
14 Comments:
Great posting Frank, you're right
(as always) the signing he gave you is a work of art in itself. Did he whip out some kind of fancy pen or did you provide?. I need to know these things
I think he signed it with my Cross pen, something vaguely similar to this one.
His so-called ´erotica´ is vile and misogynistic. I don´t find anything erotic about an ugly old sadist torturing a female body. I´m surprised you don´t seem to feel the same. Then again you´re refusal to deal with that ugly old `marequis´ sadist should have warned me to this. I really wouldn´t be surprised if the `marequis´ was this so-called ´artist´ friend of yours and you were encouraging him to post his obscene misogyny. For what purpose who knows. Myself and my female friends will also be ´monitoring´ your work from now on, and believe me, if you don´t clean up your act, the C.I.A. will be the least of your problems... FUCK YOU!!!!
And that's not in the least bit reactionary. I haven't seen the 'erotica' in question but even if I had and I agreed with you, it's no excuse to go on a full scale attack. Ever heard of a reasoned and rational argument? Ever heard of freedom of opinion? Free Speech? A right to a differing of opinion?
With regards the marquis comments, we did everything we could do by removing the ones that were offensive. If our lack of action is referring to the fact that we wouldn't give you the email of the person, despite not knowing who he was, so you could send them hate mail - I don't think anyone will agree that we behaved unreasonably.
Watch all you like. We will not change what we do and all the threats in the world won't change that.
Your ´silence´ speaks a 1000 words, so the marquis is Tomi Ungerer. Thanks, at least now we all know. Does Mr. Ungerer have a website..Hmmmmm?
Tomi Ungerer hates computers, if Tomi Ungerer is the Marquis then I'm Brad Pitt.
I really don't know who's joking anymore.
You are joking Bellinda aren't you?
At least with all these various factions 'monitoring' the site our hits are bound to go up! :)
What silence? No Tomi Ungerer is not the marquis! And I think it's a little irrational to imagine you're speaking for 'all'.
If you´re trying to tell me this Tomi guy was exiled from the USA I don´t believe a word. We have freedom of speech in America, regardless of whether you´re right or left, and I´ve never heard of anyone being exiled from the US ever, not even during the McCarthy era. If he found the climate during the Vietnam war not to his liking so he decided to leave that´s one thing, but exiled for a few cartoons? C´mon!! If he actually had to leave he must have been on the run from the law.. maybe he was a Weatherman or some other sort of hippy or yippy terrorist.
All Frank actually said was that one site one site he visited said he'd been exiled from the US because of his political art.
Does no one actually stop to think for a moment before they type?
I don't know the details. Maybe I'll ask Tomi sometime...
In the meantime here's another vague reference to it you can take me up on... ;) (link goes to pdf format biog of Tomi)
"His pacifism and posters against the war in Vietnam in the 1970s caused trouble with the FBI and put an end to his stay in the US."
"All Frank actually said was that one site one site.." At least I don´t stutter when I type
Maybe it was for emphasis... you know "one site... ONE SITE... " :D
In checking out the site this morning I was heartened to see there were 12 comments relating to, what I considered to be an interesting article about a respected (if sometimes controversial) international artist.
I thought there was a chance there would be some rational, informed comments about the article/the artist. Maybe some comparisons to other artists/writers that have produced work for children and adults (Maurice Sendak, Neil Gaiman and John Irving to name a few)
It's disappointing to see the usual reactionary ill-informed nonsense that seems to have plagued the cartoons lately.
Is it worth doing a new line of t-shirts aimed at feminist nut-jobs and CIA conspiracy freaks?
Things have been a bit bizarre around here lately. Either we are attracting a very sensitive crowd, or the word is out on the interweb that Bif and Frank are easy to wind up...
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