Rotraut Susanne Berner

Rotraut Susanne Berner (born August 26, 1948 in Stuttgart ) is a German graphic artist , illustrator and children's book author .

Life

Rotraut Susanne Berner studied newspaper studies and theater history at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich from 1969 to 1971 and then graphic design at the Munich University of Applied Sciences until 1975 . From 1975 to 1977 she worked in publishing advertising. From 1977 to 1988 she worked as a freelance illustrator, book designer and author in Munich and from 1988 to 2003 in Heidelberg. Since 2003 she has been living as a freelance artist in Munich. She is one of the most famous contemporary illustrators and book designers beyond the German-speaking world. She mainly designs book illustrations and covers for adults and children. Since 1994, she has also increasingly published books with her own texts and stories.

Her Karlchen books and the five Wimmelbooks are very well known : Winter Wimmelbuch , Spring Wimmelbuch , Summer Wimmelbuch , Autumn Wimmelbuch and Nacht Wimmelbuch , all of which are set in the fictional town of Wimmlingen . The special thing about it: various characters appear again and again and develop from band to band, e.g. B. A boy goes from kindergarten to school, a woman is only pregnant and in the next volume is out and about with a stroller.

In 2007, she received attention with her decision not to have her work (Wimmel Books) published in the USA, even though she lost financial gain as a result. The reason for this decision were demands to refrain from depicting nudity in the work, as in the USA there are sometimes other ideas of publicly visible nudity. Berner, on the other hand, felt the decision to portray nudity as an expression of artistic freedom that did not have to submit to prudery . The book series was published uncensored by the US publisher Chronicle Books in autumn 2008. From 2013 to 2019, Berner was the new editor of the Die Tollen Hefte series, succeeding her husband Armin Abmeier , who died in 2012 . She is co-founder of the Illustration Foundation in Troisdorf .

style

The Kästner illustrator Walter Trier is one of Berner's role models . She draws figures and objects mostly with black pencil and colored with gouache , pastel chalk and colored pencils. Her drawings, which have a high recognition value , were described as "very clear, with clear contours , child-friendly, a bit naive".

Exhibitions

• 1989–1997: Participation in the Illustration Biennale in Bratislava
• 1991: Solo exhibition at Galerie Satire, Heidelberg
• 1992: Solo exhibition at the Ludwigshafen City Museum
• 1994, 1997: Triennial of comic drawing, Greiz Sommerpalais
• 1996: Solo exhibition of book art in the Heidelberg City Library
• 1996: Group exhibition with Volker Pfüller Two bookends in the Munich City Museum
• 1996: Solo exhibition in the Deutsche Bibliothek Leipzig (catalog: Leib- und Magengedichte, MaroVerlag)
• 1998: Solo exhibition book art , Deutsche Bibliothek Frankfurt
• 2001: Solo exhibition at the Kunstverein Tauberbischofsheim: Buchkunst-Graphik
• 2002: Solo exhibition in the art association in Saarbrücken and in the monument smithy Höfgen
• 2003: Exhibition in the International Youth Library Blutenburg in Munich
• 2008/2009: Alphabet and pen. August 30, 2008 to October 12, 2008: Picture book museum in Troisdorf; November 8, 2008 to February 1, 2009: Gallery of the city of Fellbach near Stuttgart
• 2018: Collective & Surium retrospective for the 70th birthday in the Wilhelm Busch - German Museum for Caricature and the Art of Drawing

Awards

• 1983: Celestino Piatti Prize
• 1984: German Youth Literature Prize for Sunday Child (with Gudrun Mebs )
• 1996: German Youth Literature Prize for When the World Was Young (with Jürg Schubiger )
• 1997 and 2001: Zilveren Penseel (Dutch Illustration Prize) for The Adventure and The Princess Comes at Four (with Wolfdietrich Schnurre )
• 1998: The best 7 books for young readers (Deutschlandfunk / Focus) for Nuni by Fritz Mühlenweg - [1]
• 1998: German Youth Literature Prize for Bare Hands (with Bart Moeyaert )
• 1999: The best 7 books for young readers (Deutschlandfunk / Focus) for Dark was it, the moon shone bright
• 1999: Book of the month December (German Academy for Children's and Youth Literature, Volkach) for it was dark, the moon shone bright
• 2000: Schnabelsteherpreis for The Princess arrives at four (with Wolfdietrich Schnurre )
• 2000, 2002, 2004: Nomination for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal
• 2000: LUCHS Mai for The Princess arrives at four (with Wolfdietrich Schnurre)
• 2001: falls out of the ordinary (dog-eared) for apple, nut and snowball fight
• 2003: LUCHS Mai for The Best Dog in the World (with Sharon Creech )
• 2003: The best 7 books for young readers (Deutschlandfunk / Focus) for Winter-Wimmelbuch
• 2004: Book of the Month May (German Academy for Children's and Youth Literature, Volkach) for Spring Wimmelbook
• 2006: German Youth Literature Prize for their complete works
• 2009: Schwabing Art Prize
• 2016: Hans Christian Andersen Prize
• 2016: Grand Prize of the German Academy for Children's and Youth Literature

Publications (selection)

Children and Youth literature

Text and image

picture books

Hidden object books

• Winter Wimmelbuch. Gerstenberg Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-8369-5033-2 .
• Spring Wimmelbuch. Gerstenberg Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-8369-5057-X .
• Summer hidden object book. Gerstenberg Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-8369-5082-0 .
• Autumn Wimmelbuch. Gerstenberg Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-8369-5101-0 .
• Night hidden object book. Gerstenberg Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8369-5199-9 .
• In the town all year round. Chronicle Books, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8118-6474-9 .

stories

• Adventure. Beltz and Gelberg publishing house, 2004.
• The flying hat. Hanser Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-446-20250-1 .
• Rotraut Susanne Berner's fairy tale comics. Jacoby & Stuart Publishing House, 2008, ISBN 978-3-941087-05-7 .
• Just everything! The word treasure chest. Klett children's book, 2009, ISBN 978-3-941411-00-5 .
• Dog and rabbit. Jacoby & Stuart Publishing House, 2009, ISBN 978-3-941087-42-2 .
• The poetic cat. The most beautiful cat poems. Jacoby & Stuart Publishing House, 2010, ISBN 978-3-941787-12-4 .
• The prosaic dog. The most beautiful dog texts. Jacoby & Stuart Publishing House, 2011, ISBN 978-3-941787-36-0 .
• Pick pick Picnic , Aladin, Hamburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-8489-1020-5 .

"Karlchen" series

• Good morning, Karl! Hanser Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-446-20036-3 .
• Good night Karl! Hanser Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-446-20037-1 .
• Where's Karlchen? Hanser Verlag, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-446-20112-2 .
• Karlchen goes shopping. Hanser Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-446-20260-9 .
• Karlchen stories. Hanser Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-446-20330-3 .
• Karl in front, another goal! Hanser Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-446-20692-2 .
• New Karlchen stories . Hanser Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-446-23676-9 .
• A sister for Karlchen. Hanser Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-446-20180-4 .
• It's Karlchen's birthday . Hanser Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-446-24157-2 .
• Karlchen is looking forward to Christmas. Hanser Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-446-24623-2 .
• Have a good trip Karl! Hanser Verlag, Munich 2018, ISBN 3-446-20037-1 .

Others

• Book diary. Jacoby & Stuart Publishing House, 2009, ISBN 978-3-941087-68-2 .
• The ABC game book. Jacoby & Stuart Publishing House, 2010, ISBN 978-3-941087-86-6 .

Illustrations

• Jürg Schubiger : When the world was still young. 1995.
• Jürg Schubiger: Mother, father, me and you.
• Jürg Schubiger: Where is the sea?
• Sylvia Plath : The It Doesn't Matter Suit. St. Martins Press, 1996, ISBN 0-312-14189-0 .
• Fritz Mühlenweg : Nuni - A children's novel. 1997.
• Hans Magnus Enzensberger : Der Zahlenteufel - A pillow book for everyone who is afraid of mathematics. 1998.
• Edmund Jacoby : It was dark, the moon shone brightly. Gerstenberg Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-8369-4285-2 .
• Armin Abmeier : Grim fairy tales. 1999.
• Hanna Johansen : The Füsch.
• Hanna Johansen: Are you awake yet?
• Franz Hohler : If I could wish for something.
• Wolfheinrich von der Mülbe : The magic lantern. 2003.
• Alison Louise Kennedy : The Mousebock Family Dictionary. 2004.
• Hans Magnus Enzensberger: Bibs , children's book, Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-446-23380-5 .
• Jürg Schubiger: When death came to us. Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 2011, ISBN 978-3-7795-0312-5 .
• Christoph Hein : Everything you need, The 20 most important things in life , children's book, Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-446-26273-7 .
• Christoph Hein: One word for Amalia alone . Insel Verlag, Berlin 2020, ISBN 978-3-458-19479-8 .

"The Great Books"

• Noodle soup. A catalog from A – Z. Foreword by Michael Krüger , 1991.
• with Uli Becker : The naked life. Man and woman in words and pictures, 1991.
• with Atte Jongstra : Festive Lexicon. 1993.
• Body and stomach poems. Poems from Artmann to Zürn, 1996.
• with AL Kennedy : The dictionary of the Mausbock family. 2004
• with Ingrid Bachér : The child and the cat. 2010.
• with Michael Hammerschmid : Schlaraffenbauch. 2018.

literature

• Armin Abmeier (Ed.): Alphabet & pen, The world of images by Rotraut Susanne Berner. Hanser, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-446-23113-9 .
• Georg Barber : magazine, time drawer. Episode 72, August 2008.
• Monika Blume: Rotraut Susanne Berner. A documentation. Working group for youth literature e. V. German Section of IBBY , Munich 1999.
• Jochen Gelberg: Special Illustration Prize for the complete work. Jury statement by Hans-Joachim Gelberg . Julit, Munich 2006.
• Susanne Kippenberger : News from Wimmlingen. In: Der Tagesspiegel . 2008.
• Monika Osberghaus: "But of course I don't stop drawing because of that ...". Portrait of the artist Rotraut Susanne Berner. In: Bulletin Youth & Literature . Geesthacht, 26 (1995), 1, pp. 9-10.
• Susanna Partsch : Rotraut Susanne Berner . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 3, Seemann, Leipzig 1990, ISBN 3-363-00116-9 , p. 48.
• Cornelia Rémi: Reading as Playing. The Cognitive Challenge of the Wimmelbook. In: Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer (Ed.): Emergent Literacy - Children's Books from 0 to 3. (= Studies in Written Language and Literacy. Volume 13). John Benjamin, Amsterdam 2011, ISBN 978-90-272-1808-7 , pp. 115-139 ( Reading as Playing. Pre-print, online). (English)
• Elke Schmitter : Thrown out of my head. In: Body and stomach poems. Augsburg 1996.
• Inge Sauer: The truth in a clown costume. Rotraut Susanne Berner. In: Börsenblatt for the German book trade. Frankfurt am Main 159 (1992), 69, pp. 100-102.
• Keto von Waberer : About Rotraut Susanne Berner. Catalog Triennale Greiz, Greiz 1994.
• Rotraut Susanne Berner , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 28/2018 from July 10, 2018, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
• Benedikt Erenz, Axel Scheffler : Collecting & Surium, books and pictures from 40 years. Hildesheim 2018.

Web links

• Literature by and about Rotraut Susanne Berner in the catalog of the German National Library
• Rotraut Susanne Berner at Hanser Verlag
• Rotraut Susanne Berner at Gerstenberg Verlag
• Short biography and reviews of works by Rotraut Susanne Berner at perlentaucher.de
• Antje Szillat : Interview with Rotraut Susanne Berner in Kids Life in July 2007, online at kidslife-magazin.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ woman.brigitte.de
2. ↑ Glossy Feuilleton: For heaven's sake! In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of July 11, 2007
3. ↑ Author sees censorship. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . July 12, 2007.
4. ↑ US publisher gives Penis-Okay . In: Spiegel online . January 16, 2008.
5. ↑ The "Tollen Hefte" are discontinued. Retrieved August 16, 2020 . 
6. ↑ Cornelia Geissler: Wimmelndes Leben. In: Berliner Zeitung . August 26, 2008, p. 28.
7. ↑ celebration for creator of Wimmelbücher 70th birthday. Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 11, 2018, accessed on August 5, 2020 .