Jan Michał Pieńkowski (8 August 1936 – 19 February 2022) was a Polish-born British author of

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

—as illustrator, as writer, and as designer of movable books. He is best known for illustrating the ''Meg and Mog'' picture book series. He has also designed for the theatre. For his contribution as a children's illustrator he was UK nominee in 1982 and again in 2008 for the biennial, international

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books.

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

reports that Pieńkowski's work most widely held in participating libraries is ''Christmas, the King James Version'' (1984; US ), a 24-page picture book that " es the words of the

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

of Luke and Matthew to present the story of the birth of Jesus."

Biography

Jan Pieńkowski was born in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

to Jerzy, a farm manager, and Wanda (née Garlicka), a scientist. He was three in September 1939 when

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

began in Europe with the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

. He was in an air raid shelter during a Nazi firebomb attack, when a Polish insurgent showed him paper cut-out techniques. He later used these in over 150 picture books. From 1944, the family moved through

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, before settling in

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

, England, in 1946, where Pieńkowski attended

Lucton School Lucton School, is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school in Lucton near Leominster, Herefordshire, England. It was founded in 1708 as a boys' school and began admitting girls in the 1970s. It currently has 350 pupils on roll, ...

. At the age of ten, he couldn't speak any English. However, a year later he passed his Eleven Plus exam and attended the Cardinal Vaughan School in London and later read English Classics at King's College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. It was here that he met his friend, and later agent, Angela Holder, who persuaded him to turn one of his poster designs into a greetings card. After leaving university, together they founded the Gallery Five greeting cards company. He began illustrating children's books in spare time but soon found it taking all his time. In 1968 Pieńkowski began working with children's author Joan Aiken. He won the annual

Kate Greenaway Medal The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ...

for their 1971 book, ''The Kingdom Under the Sea and other stories'' (

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

), eleven "fairy tales from Eastern Europe and Russia" retold by Aiken. That award by the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowle ...

recognised the year's best children's book illustration by a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

. In retrospect the librarians call it "brilliantly illustrated in a highly original and recognisable silhouette style". One year earlier he had been one of three Greenaway runners up for ''The Golden Bird'' (

J. M. Dent Joseph Malaby Dent (30 August 1849 – 9 May 1926) was a British book publisher who produced the Everyman's Library series. Early life Dent was born in Darlington in what is now part of the Grade II listed Britannia Inn. After a short and ...

, 1970), written by Edith Brill. Pieńkowski is probably best known for illustrating the ''

Meg and Mog Meg and Mog is a series of children's books written by Helen Nicoll and illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski. First published in the 1970s, the books are about Meg, a witch whose spells always seem to go wrong, her striped cat Mog, and their friend Ow ...

'' books written by

Helen Nicoll Helen Nicoll (10 October 1937 – 30 September 2012) was an English author of children's books. She is best known for the ''Meg and Mog'' series. In total, she wrote 17 books. She worked with Jan Pienkowski (illustrator) for over forty years on ...

, and for his

pop-up books The term pop-up book is often applied to any book with three-dimensional pages, although it is properly the umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each ...

including ''Haunted House'', ''Robot'', ''Dinner Time'', ''Good Night'' and 17 others. ''Haunted House'' (

Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman * Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born Se ...

, 1979) earned Pieńkowski his second Greenaway Medal (no one has won three). The librarians describe it as "the house of petrifying pop-ups". The pop-up book was so successful that Intervisual Books Inc. reproduced the book as part of its 1992 Annual Report. The report noted "Haunted House was first published in 1979, and has sold 1,083,366 copies, in 13 languages, to nearly 30 countries worldwide." Pieńkowski had a lifelong interest in

stage design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

. He was commissioned to provide designs for Théâtre de Complicité, ''Beauty and the Beast'' for the Royal Ballet, and ''Sleeping Beauty'' at Disneyland Paris. In December 2008 he was a guest on '' Private Passions'', a biographic music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3. Published episode notes include the observation that " s musical choices, which all have strong personal resonances, reflect his Polish background as well as his love of both Italy and England." Recordings of two Polish numbers led the program: " Infant holy, infant lowly", a traditional

Christmas Carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...

(lyrics in English translation), and Chopin's so-called Military Polonaise. In 2019, Pienkowski was awarded the Booktrust's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Personal life and death

In October 2009 he was a guest on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's '' Desert Island Discs''. During the programme Pieńkowski discussed his childhood spent roaming Europe, his dead infant sister, his bipolarity and his collection of discarded garments (which he wears himself or gives away to charity shops). He also talked about his 40-year relationship with his collaborator and civil partner, David Walser, whom he met in a pub on the

Kings Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

in West London. They contracted their

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...

in Richmond on the first day this was possible in 2005."Jan Pienkowski"
Broadcast episode recording (45 minutes). '' Desert Island Discs'', Sunday 18 October 2009. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 1 December 2012. Pieńkowski lived and worked in Barnes, London, where he was a patron of the Barnes Literary Society. He died from complications of dementia on 19 February 2022, at the age of 85.

Books

*''Annie, Bridget and Charlie'' (1967) *''The Golden Bird'' (1972) *''Haunter House'' Intervisual Books *''Easter'' *''Christmas'' *''The First Christmas'' *''The First Noel'' *''Weather'' *''Gossip'' *''Botticelli's Bed & Breakfast'' *''Little Monsters'' *''Shapes'' *''Numbers'' *''Boats'' *''Faces'' *''1 2 3'' *''Big Machines'' *''Doorbell'' *''Dinner Times'' *''Meg and Mog'' *''Meg on the Moon'' *''Meg and the Romans'' *''The Fairytales'' *''Nighttime'' *''Pet Food'' *''Small Talk'' *''Oh My a Fly'' *''Yea No'' *''Robot'' *''Road Hog'' *''The Animals Went in Two by Two'' *''Pizza''

Notes

References

External links