Maurice Sendak - Illustrator

Maurice Sendak died last week (May 8, 2012), and because of my complete love for many of his books, I felt it appropriate to add his work to the Turquoise Umbrella.

Maurice Sendak was born in Brooklyn on June 10, 1928. He spent much of the 1950's illustrating other author's books before writing and illustrating his own. He was best known for his Little Bear illustrations, and his book Where the Wild Things Are.

Eyvind Earle - Illustrator

Born in New York in 1916, Eyvind Earle began his prolific career at the age of ten, and was in a one-man show in France at the age of 14. At the age of 21, Earle bicycled across country from Hollywood to New York, paying his way by painting 42 watercolors.


In 1951 Earle joined Walt Disney studios as an assistant background painter. Among other projects, Earle was responsible for the styling, background and colors for the highly acclaimed movie “Sleeping Beauty” and gave the movie its magical, medieval look with his meticulously detailed, hand-painted backgrounds.



After about 15 years creating animated art, Earle returned to painting full time in 1966 and kept working until the end of his life. Eyvind Earle passed away on July 20, 2000 at the age of 84 (Excerpts taken from the Bio of Eyvind Earle http://www.eyvindearle.com/Bio.aspx).

Aurelius Battaglia - Illustrator

Aurelius Battaglia was an American illustrator, muralist, writer, and director (January 16, 1910 – May, 1984). He worked for Disney in the late 1930's and contributed most notably to Dumbo, Fantasia, and Pinocchio. He was also well known for his picture books in the 1950s and 1960s. His work features bold, solid colors and striking, stylized pen and brush work - indicative of the looser, more abstract mid-century cartooning style that he helped pioneer.