Nancy Ekholm Burkert (born February 16, 1933) is an American artist and

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 ...

. Her most celebrated work is the picture book ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...

'' (1972), which was a '' New York Times'' Notable Book and a Caldecott Honor Book (one runner-up for the Caldecott Medal).

Biography

Burkert was born in

Sterling, Colorado Sterling is a home rule municipality and the county seat and most populous municipality of Logan County, Colorado, United States. Sterling is the principal city of the Sterling, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city population was 13,753 a ...

, and moved with her family to Wisconsin in 1945. She received both her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Burkert's first illustration work was for '' James and the Giant Peach'' in 1961. In 1982, she was co-author of a museum catalog for the Milwaukee Art Museum, on the Wisconsin artist John Wilde. She won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Special Award for '' Valentine and Orson'' in 1990. In 2003, she was subject of an exhibition at the

Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is a museum devoted to the art of the picture book and especially the children's book. It is a member of Museums10 and is adjacent to the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Carle was ...

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

Work

Her early work demonstrated a command of shading and texture through pencil and charcoal, in addition to her usual media of pen and ink combined with colored pencil and watercolor. Beginning with ''The Nightingale'' and concluding with ''Snow White'', her mastery of light, shadow and depth combined Renaissance chiaroscuro with an

Oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

awareness of space in settings that were realistic in detail, yet also fanciful and timeless in content. Her later work continued this emphasis on intense, intimate detail, revealing a passion for the complexity and variety of life. Her illustration work on Valentine & Orson was considered to be a consistently whole work of art that was remarkable for its attention to detail and luminosity.

Illustrated works

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

, '' James and the Giant Peach'' (1961) *Natalie Savage Carlson, ''Jean-Claude’s Island'' (1963) *Meindert de Jong, ''Big Goose and the Little White Duck'' (1963) *

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

, ''

The Nightingale The common nightingale is a songbird found in Eurasia. Nightingale may also refer to: Birds * Thrush nightingale, a songbird found in Eurasia * Red-billed leiothrix, a songbird of the Indian Subcontinent Literature * "Nightingale" (short sto ...

'' (1965) *

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...

, ''Child’s Calendar'' (1965) *

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

and Ogden Nash, ''

The Scroobious Pip "The Scroobious Pip" is a nonsense verse poem left unfinished by Edward Lear at the time of his death in 1888. Premise The poem tells of a fanciful animal of unknown taxonomy known only as "the Scroobious Pip" and the fruitless attempts of th ...

'' (1968) *

, ''The Fir Tree'' (1970) *

The Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

, ''

'' (1972) *David Larkin, ed., ''The Art of Nancy Ekholm Burkert'' (1977) * Emily Dickinson, ''Acts of Light'' (1980) *'' Valentine and Orson'' (1989), written and illustrated

Awards

*1972 New York Times Notable Book: ''Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs'' *1973 Caldecott Award, Honor Book: ''Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs'' *1989 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award: ''Valentine and Orson'' *1995 Wisconsin Library Association Wisconsin Notable Authors

References

External links