Arnold Spilka (November 14, 1917 - December 14, 2002) was an American children's
illustrator
An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...
, writer and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
.
Spilka was born in New York City and attended the
Art Students League where he studied drawing with
Rico Lebrun
Rico (Federico) Lebrun (Naples, December 10, 1900 – Malibu, May 9, 1964) was an Italian-American painter and sculptor.
Early life
Lebrun was born in 1900 in Naples, Italy. He initially studied banking and journalism before taking art classes a ...
, and sculpture with John Hovannes.
["About the Illustrator". Lawson, John. ''You Better Come Home With Me''. Harper-Collins (1990) ] He illustrated many books for other writers, including Robert Froman,
John Lawson, Beman Lord, and
Ann McGovern. He was the writer and illustrator of ''A Rumbudgin of Nonsense'' (1970) a
picture book of
nonsense verse () as well as ''A Lion I Can Do Without'' (1964), ''And the Frog Went Blah'' (1972), and ''Bumples, Fumdidlers, and Jellybeans'' (1996).
Among his poems are ''Don't Tell Me That I Talk Too Much'' and ''Flowers are a Silly Bunch'', which starts by listing aspects of nature (such as trees are bossy, and lakes are shy), but turns out to be a poem about liking the city.
Some of his papers and original drawings from 1960 to 1970 have been donated to the University of Minnesota and are held in its Children's Literature Research Collections.
"Arnold Spilka Papers"
Children's Literature Research Collections. University of Minnesota Libraries. With biographical sketch.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spilka, Arnold
1917 births
2002 deaths
American children's book illustrators
American male poets
20th-century American poets
20th-century American male writers