Pigeon droppings form “jumps”, horse droppings “popsdipumps” and rabbit beans “ratatata”. Who wants to know? Someone who puts a long brown sausage right on his head.
My son received a strange booklet for his first birthday entitled “About the little mole who wanted to know who shot his head”. Mole Who – Happy Ending! – avenges the butcher dog Hans-Heinerich with his own sausage on the head (“pling”), from then on he accompanied us through the years of storytelling.
My family is no special case: the book has sold over three million copies worldwide. It has been translated into about 40 languages. Wolf Erlbruch († 74) illustrated the successful title. The German illustrator and author of children’s and youth books died on 11 December in Wuppertal, near Düsseldorf.
He broke taboos with his books.
Excrement as a blockbuster movie? In 1989 Peter Hammer Verlag had doubts about this and was initially hesitant to include the book in his schedule. In fact, the text by the writer Werner Holzwarth (75) broke a taboo at the time. Today, 30 years later, a large number of children’s books are published every year devoted to the topic of bis, gaggi or farting.
Wolf Erlbruch was optimistic that the book would be a success, even though it was several months after it was published before booksellers dared to recommend it to customers. “I’m a little proud that this is a picture book that has only become a true global success with children’s worst whining,” Wolf Erlbruch said in an interview with “Wir Eltern” about his most famous children’s book in 2018. .
Crossing borders has become his trademark. As a writer, the former award-winning advertising artist gravitated towards subjects far removed from the classic children’s books: death in “Duck, Death and Tulip”, for example, and the pursuit of happiness in “A Heaven for the Little Bear.” , the meaning of life in the “Big Question”. His approach was never tricky, always poetic, investigative and quiet.
“A brilliant painter with a penchant for strange things”
As an illustrator, he avoided creating stereotypical images for his books and calendars in typically childish colors. The world of color was one of the muted tones, and even if the drawings are colourful, it would never occur to them to call them colourful. The brilliant painter, passionate about strange creatures, created animal heroes with great charisma.
Wolf Erlbruch used various papers as the basis for his drawings. He cut out the picture elements and combined them into a collage on a light background. To this day, his unconventional take on technology and visual material continues to shape the style of each new generation of illustrator. He taught some of them himself: for over 20 years he transferred his knowledge as a professor of illustration at various German universities.
He was always humble
Wolf Erlbruch stayed with his family in Wuppertal all his life. His best ideas came while wandering around his hometown or cycling through the surrounding hills. Over the decades, it has received some of the most important children’s and youth book awards, such as the “Little Nobel Prize” in 2017 and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize. She didn’t appreciate the limelight that much and questioned herself despite her huge success as an artist. He once said: “I see all awards as things that convey my self-doubt rather than clearing them up.”
But as parents, we noticed nothing about this impeccable artist’s insecurities when we brought home another treasure of Erlbruch books and immersed ourselves with our children in his world of images and ideas.