{"id":476,"date":"2025-08-31T21:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T13:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/?p=476"},"modified":"2025-09-09T19:48:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T11:48:57","slug":"life_of_lionni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2025\/08\/31\/life_of_lionni\/","title":{"rendered":"Chronol\u00ado\u00adgy of Leo Lion\u00adni\u2019s life and works (main\u00adly pic\u00adture books)"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1910s\u20131930s: Ear\u00adly Years and Artis\u00adtic Enlight\u00aden\u00adment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 5, 1910: Born in Water\u00adgraaf\u00ads\u00admeer, Ams\u00adter\u00addam, Nether\u00adlands, of half Jew\u00adish descent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

1910\u20131914: Spent the first four years of his life in Water\u00adgras\u00admere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Child\u00adhood: He grew up in Ams\u00adter\u00addam, Brus\u00adsels, Genoa, and Philadel\u00adphia. His father, Louis Lion\u00adni, was a dia\u00admond cut\u00adter and lat\u00ader an accoun\u00adtant; his moth\u00ader, Elis\u00ada\u00adbeth Grossouw, was an opera singer. As a child, he devel\u00adoped a love for nature (he kept a vivar\u00adi\u00adum) and an inter\u00adest in art (he was inspired by his uncle Pitt, his great-uncle William, and the painter Marc Cha\u00adgall).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 1922: Lion\u00adni\u2019s par\u00adents left for the Unit\u00aded States, and he lived with his grand\u00adpar\u00adents, Elie and Rose Beffie, in Brus\u00adsels, Bel\u00adgium, for two years. Dur\u00ading this time, he devel\u00adoped a keen inter\u00adest in the mod\u00adern art col\u00adlec\u00adtion of his uncle, Ren\u00e9 Gaff\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 1925: Reunit\u00aded with his par\u00adents in Philadel\u00adphia, USA for a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 1926: Moved to Genoa, Italy. Dur\u00ading this time, he estab\u00adlished his own stu\u00addio (salot\u00adti\u00adno) and devel\u00adoped a love of Ital\u00adian lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture and art under the guid\u00adance of his tutor, Pro\u00adfes\u00adsor De Ami\u00adcis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1926\u20131931: Stud\u00adied at the Isti\u00adtu\u00adto Tec\u00adni\u00adco Supe\u00adri\u00adore Vit\u00adto\u00adrio Emanuele Ter\u00adzo. Wit\u00adnessed the rise of fas\u00adcism in Italy and met Nora Maf\u00adfi and her fam\u00adi\u00adly. Nora\u2019s father was a founder of the Ital\u00adian Com\u00admu\u00adnist Par\u00adty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1931: Mar\u00adried Nora Maf\u00adfei and began cre\u00adat\u00ading abstract paint\u00adings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1931\u20131939: A renowned painter in Italy, his style lean\u00ading towards Futur\u00adism and avant-garde art. He also began to focus more on adver\u00adtis\u00ading design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1932: Gets his first \u201creal\u201d job as assis\u00adtant cashier at Foltzer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1933: Returns to Milan from Ams\u00adter\u00addam due to Dutch army con\u00adscrip\u00adtion. His eldest son, Man\u00adnie (lat\u00ader renamed Louis), is born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1934: Meets Edoar\u00addo Per\u00adsi\u00adco, edi\u00adtor of the archi\u00adtec\u00adtur\u00adal month\u00adly Casabel\u00adla, who becomes Leoni\u2019s friend, men\u00adtor, and moral guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1935: Earns a degree in eco\u00adnom\u00adics from the Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Genoa. Works as assis\u00adtant to the adver\u00adtis\u00ading direc\u00adtor for the Mot\u00adta can\u00addy com\u00adpa\u00adny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1936: Edoar\u00addo Per\u00adsi\u00adco dies. Many of his artist friends in Milan are arrest\u00aded and inter\u00adro\u00adgat\u00aded by the Fas\u00adcist secret police (OVRA). Lioni leaves Mot\u00adta and opens his own small design stu\u00addio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1939\u20131950s: Immi\u00adgrat\u00ading to the Unit\u00aded States and Design Career<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 1939: He and his father sailed from Rot\u00adter\u00addam aboard the SS Rot\u00adter\u00addam to New York. Set\u00adtled in Philadel\u00adphia, he began work\u00ading full-time in adver\u00adtis\u00ading, achiev\u00ading sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant suc\u00adcess with clients includ\u00ading Ford Motor Com\u00adpa\u00adny and Chrysler-Ply\u00admouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep\u00adtem\u00adber 12, 1939: His wife Nora and two sons (Man\u00adny and Paul) obtain visas and depart for the Unit\u00aded States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1941\u20131945: Cre\u00adates wartime works such as \u201cPro\u00adtect\u00ading Amer\u00adi\u00adca\u2019s Pro\u00adtec\u00adtion!\u201d, \u201cPine Tree to Pack\u00adage,\u201d \u201cArmy-Navy,\u201d \u201cPress the But\u00adton,\u201d and \u201cFrance Reborn.\u201d Invit\u00aded by Josef Albers, he teach\u00ades at Black Moun\u00adtain Col\u00adlege. He holds his first solo exhi\u00adbi\u00adtion in the Unit\u00aded States at the Nor\u00adris Gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1946: Declines a posi\u00adtion as art direc\u00adtor of the Ford divi\u00adsion at J. Wal\u00adter Thomp\u00adson Adver\u00adtis\u00ading Agency, decid\u00ading to spend a year in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1948: Returns to New York, USA, where he receives com\u00admis\u00adsions from For\u00adtune, Proc\u00adter & Gam\u00adble, the Muse\u00adum of Mod\u00adern Art (MoMA), CBS, and the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Can\u00adcer Soci\u00adety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1948: Accepts posi\u00adtion as art direc\u00adtor of For\u00adtune mag\u00ada\u00adzine, a posi\u00adtion he holds until 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1949: Moved to Green\u00adwich, Con\u00adnecti\u00adcut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 1951: Chairs the first Inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal Design Con\u00adfer\u00adence in Aspen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1954: Cre\u00adat\u00aded \u201cHere is the begin\u00adning of phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy\u2026\u201d as part of his \u201cGreat Ideas of West\u00adern Man\u201d series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1955: Designs the cov\u00ader for the Muse\u00adum of Mod\u00adern Art\u2019s \u201cThe Fam\u00adi\u00adly of Man\u201d exhi\u00adbi\u00adtion. Becomes edi\u00adtor of Print mag\u00ada\u00adzine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1957: First solo trip to India for three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring 1959: Makes a life-chang\u00ading deci\u00adsion to resign from all busi\u00adness posi\u00adtions, sell his house in Green\u00adwich, and move back to Italy to devote him\u00adself full-time to art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1959\u20131970s: The Gold\u00aden Age of Pic\u00adture Books and Artis\u00adtic Explo\u00adration<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1959: He impro\u00advis\u00ades the sto\u00adry of Lit\u00adtle Blue and Lit\u00adtle Yel\u00adlow for his grand\u00adchil\u00addren on a train, which becomes his first chil\u00addren\u2019s pic\u00adture book. It wins the New York Times Award for Best Illus\u00adtrat\u00aded Chil\u00addren\u2019s Book of the Year.
Lit\u00adtle Blue and Lit\u00adtle Yel\u00adlow is pub\u00adlished. Trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Peng Yi, pub\u00adlished by Xinyi Pub\u00adlish\u00ading House and Tomor\u00adrow Pub\u00adlish\u00ading House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

End of June 1959: Moved back to San Bernar\u00addo, Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1960: Inch by Inch was pub\u00adlished and won the Lewis Car\u00adroll Shelf Award and the Calde\u00adcott Medal in 1961. Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion of Inch by Inch: Trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Yang Maox\u00adiu, Xinyi\/Tomorrow Pub\u00adlish\u00ading House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1961: \u201cOn My Beach There Are Many Peb\u00adbles\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb\u00adru\u00adary 1962: Became edi\u00adtor of the Ital\u00adian mag\u00ada\u00adzine Panora\u00adma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1963:Swim\u00admy<\/strong>Pub\u00adlished in 1961, con\u00adsid\u00adered by the author to be the first alle\u00adgor\u00adi\u00adcal pic\u00adture book. Chi\u00adnese edi\u00adtion: Trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Peng Yi, The Giv\u00ading Tree \/ Nan\u00adhai Pub\u00adlish\u00ading Com\u00adpa\u00adny. Win\u00adner of the 1964 Calde\u00adcott Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1964: Moves to Por\u00adcig\u00adnano, Tus\u00adcany, due to high\u00adway con\u00adstruc\u00adtion threat\u00aden\u00ading San Bernar\u00addo. Pub\u00adlish\u00ades Tico and the Gold\u00aden Wings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1965: Won the Ger\u00adman Youth Lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture Award (Deutsch\u00ader Jugendlit\u00ader\u00adatur\u00adpreis).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1967: Cre\u00adat\u00aded \u201cEvery man is the son of his own works.\u201d, taught at the Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Illi\u00adnois at Urbana-Cham\u00adpaign, and was invit\u00aded to par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpate in the Mon\u00adtre\u00adal World Expo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fred\u00ader\u00adick<\/strong>Pub\u00adlished. Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: Trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Ajia, The Lov\u00ading Tree \/ Nan\u00adhai Pub\u00adlish\u00ading Com\u00adpa\u00adny. Win\u00adner of the 1968 Calde\u00adcott Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1968: His moth\u00ader passed away. Pub\u00adlished The Biggest House in the World and The Alpha\u00adbet Tree in the same year. Chi\u00adnese trans\u00adla\u00adtion by Ajia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1969:Alexan\u00adder and the Wind-Up Mouse<\/strong>Pub\u00adlished. Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: Trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Ajia, The Lov\u00ading Tree \/ Nan\u00adhai Pub\u00adlish\u00ading Com\u00adpa\u00adny. Win\u00adner of the 1970 Calde\u00adcott Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1970: Fish is Fish (Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Ajia) was pub\u00adlished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ear\u00adly 1970s: Par\u00adal\u00adlel Botany project launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1971: Theodore and the Talk\u00ading Mush\u00adroom (Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: trans\u00adlat\u00aded by A Jia) was pub\u00adlished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1972: Sculp\u00adture exhi\u00adbi\u00adtion at Il Mil\u00adione Gallery in Milan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1973: The Green\u00adtail Mouse (Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Ajia) was pub\u00adlished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1975: Pezzetti\u00adno (Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Ajia) and In the Rab\u00adbit\u00adgar\u00adden were pub\u00adlished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1976: A Col\u00ador of His Own (trans\u00adlat\u00aded by A Jia) is pub\u00adlished. In the same year, La botan\u00adi\u00adca par\u00adal\u00adlela (Par\u00adal\u00adlel Botany) is pub\u00adlished in Ital\u00adian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1977: Pub\u00adlished \u201cI Want to Stay Here I Want to Go There: A Flea Sto\u00adry\u201d and the philo\u00adsoph\u00adi\u00adcal work \u201cPar\u00adal\u00adlel Botany\u201d (Knopf Eng\u00adlish edi\u00adtion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1979: Pub\u00adlished Geral\u00addine The Music Mouse (Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: trans\u00adlat\u00aded by A Jia) and Mouse Days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1980s\u20131990s: Late Works and Ret\u00adro\u00adspec\u00adtive<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1981: Won the Japan Foun\u00adda\u00adtion Award for the Japan\u00adese edi\u00adtion of Par\u00adal\u00adlel Botany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1982: Let\u2019s Make Rab\u00adbits (trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Ajia) was pub\u00adlished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1983: Pub\u00adlished Cor\u00adnelius the Croc\u00ado\u00addile (Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Ajia), as well as Let\u2019s Play, Who, What, When and Where.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1985: Pub\u00adlished the pic\u00adture book col\u00adlec\u00adtion \u201cFred\u00ader\u00adick\u00ad\u2019s Fables\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s Mine Knopf!\u201d (Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: trans\u00adlat\u00aded by A Jia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 6, 1985: Son Paul died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1987: Deliv\u00adered the keynote address at the U.S. Library of Con\u00adgress\u2019s Inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal Chil\u00addren\u2019s Day cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtions; diag\u00adnosed with Parkin\u00adson\u2019s dis\u00adease that same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1987\u20131989: Pub\u00adlished Nicholas Where Have You Been, Six Crows (Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: trans\u00adlat\u00aded by A Jia), and Tillie and The Wall (Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: trans\u00adlat\u00aded by A Jia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1991: A ret\u00adro\u00adspec\u00adtive exhi\u00adbi\u00adtion was held at the Muse\u00adum of Mod\u00adern Art in Bologna, and the album \u201cArte come Mestiere\u201d was pub\u00adlished. Aunt Mestiere passed away. That same year, \u201cMatthew\u2019s Dream\u201d (Chi\u00adnese trans\u00adla\u00adtion by A Jia) was pub\u00adlished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1992: Pub\u00adlished \u201cA Busy Year\u201d (Chi\u00adnese ver\u00adsion: trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Ajia) and \u201cMr. McMouse\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1994: Pub\u00adlished An Extra\u00ador\u00addi\u00adnary Egg (Chi\u00adnese trans\u00adla\u00adtion by Ajia). Also in 1994, paint\u00aded the flag for the Palio de Siena horse race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decem\u00adber 22, 1994: Close friend Bob Osborn dies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1997: His auto\u00adbi\u00adog\u00adra\u00adphy, Between Worlds, was pub\u00adlished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Octo\u00adber 11, 1999: Dies at his home in Tus\u00adcany, Italy, at the age of 89.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Com\u00adpiled based on his auto\u00adbi\u00adog\u00adra\u00adphy, Wikipedia and Chi\u00adnese pic\u00adture book pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion infor\u00adma\u00adtion<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,7,10,6],"class_list":["post-476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story-of-story-tellers","tag-5","tag-7","tag-10","tag-6"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/\u739b\u4fee\u7684\u68a604.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}