Illustrator Nominee: France

Claude Ponti
France, Illustrator

I am not a contortionist, I don't lower myself. I work with the essential idea in mind that children are human beings 'in process' and that what is evident for us is not for them.

– Claude Ponti

Claude Ponti was born in Lunéville in the eastern part of France in 1948. He studied literature and archaeology at Strasbourg university and fine arts at Aix-en-Provence. In 1969 he moved to Paris and began work with L'Express and Le Monde. He also worked as a painter, and it was not until his daughter Adèle was born that he thought of creating picturebooks. This led to the publication of L'album d'Adèle in 1986. The success of this book, which Ponti expected to be a one-off, has led to many others. Today, Claude Ponti's picturebooks are classics among the classics, read in kindergarten and primary schools, in libraries and day-nurseries, enjoyed by many adults and studied on university courses in France.

It often takes Ponti several years to fully create a picturebook from an idea. He likes to write and draw once he has the whole story in his mind. This is reflected in the originality of his output; each book, though stylistically recognisable, has its own characteristics. His artwork is busy and detailed. In Blaise et le chateau d'Anne Hiversère, dozens of little chicks, which have become something of a trademark of Ponti's, busy themselves making a castle cake for Bertha Day's party. And here, as in other works by Ponti, the humour permeates and makes something imaginative from a simple activity.

Claude Ponti writes and illustrates children's books with an imaginative style and a wit that is especially captivating. His lively drawings invite us into a Technicolor landscape full of excitement and wonder. Each story, rich with puns and jokes, inhabits a delicious world of imaginary creatures where toys spring to life and the sun just may bump into the moon. Like the best books for youngsters, they see the world from a child's perspective, the improbable becomes the possible, and all things, even the most bizarre, have perfectly reasonable explanations.