Christoph Niemann (born 1970) is an

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 complicate ...

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

, and

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

author. Since July 2008, Niemann has been writing and illustrating ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' blog Abstract City, renamed Abstract Sunday in 2011, when the blog moved to ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

''.

Personal life

He studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart under

Heinz Edelmann Heinz Edelmann (20 June 1934 – 21 July 2009) was a Czech-German illustrator and designer. His art direction and character designs for the Beatles' 1968 animated film '' Yellow Submarine'' brought him additional recognition around the world. ...

. After finishing his studies in Germany in 1997, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. After 11 years in New York City, he moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

with his wife, Lisa, and their three sons.

Career

Niemann is known for his Sunday Sketches, a weekly series of humorous drawings that play with scale and position. His compositions often take objects and turn them into something unexpected, for example a red pencil into a megaphone or a splayed book into a cat's whiskers. His work has appeared on the covers of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

'', ''

'' and ''American Illustration'', and has won awards from

AIGA The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity. The ...

, the

Art Directors Club The Art Directors Club of New York is an organization for art directors in New York City. It was founded in 1920, and has grown as an industry group, promoting art directors' work through exhibitions and awards, including the annual DESI award fo ...

and ''American Illustration''. Niemann is a member of the

Alliance Graphique Internationale Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) is a club of the world's leading graphic artists and designers. There are 510 members from 46 countries. Its members have been collectively responsible for the identity design of most of the world's top cor ...

. He has been a speaker at Design Indaba Conference twice, in 2006 and 2013. In 2010, he was inducted into the

Art Directors Club Hall of Fame The Art Directors Club Hall of Fame was established in 1971, by the Art Directors Club of New York, a professional organization in the design and creative industries. The Art Directors Club selects its honorees from those "who have made significant ...

. In 2013, he launched his first interactive illustration at Design Indaba Conference in Cape Town, in the form of an iOS application called Petting Zoo by Christoph Niemann. On June 21, 2013,

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

used two of his images to celebrate the 2013

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

and

winter solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...

s as the

Google Doodle Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running annual Bu ...

of the day. Niemann was profiled in the first season of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

docu-series, '' Abstract: The Art of Design''. Niemann produced ''Traffic Pong'' in 2019, a video art piece that depicts a game of ''

Pong ''Pong'' is a 1972 sports video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. It is one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but B ...

'' superimposed over aerial footage of traffic over

Paulista Avenue Paulista Avenue (Avenida Paulista in Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Paulistas, Paulista'' being the demonym for those born in the state of State of São Paulo, São Paulo) is one of the most important avenues in São Paulo (city), São Paulo, ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. The vehicles would interact with the ball and affect the game at large.

Books

* (2000) ''Fresh Dialogue 1, New Voices in Graphic Design'' (with Nicholas Blechman,

Paul Sahre Paul Sahre (born 1964) is an American graphic designer. He has designed book covers and created numerous illustration for ''The New York Times.'' Biography Sahre (pronounced say-er) was born in Johnson City in upstate New York, and received ...

and

Paula Scher Paula Scher (born October 6, 1948) is an American graphic designer, painter and design educator. She also served as the first female principal at Pentagram, which she joined in 1991. She started her career as an art director in the 1970s and ear ...

). . * (2005) ''100% Evil'' (with Nicholas Blechman and

Chip Kidd Charles Kidd (born 1964) is an American graphic designer known for Cover art, book covers. Early childhood Born in Shillington, Pennsylvania, Shillington in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up being fascinated and heavily inspired by Am ...

). . * (2007) ''The Police Cloud''. . * (2007) ''The Boy with Two Belly Buttons'' (with

Stephen J. Dubner Stephen Joseph Dubner (born August 26, 1963) is an American author, journalist, and podcast and radio host. He is co-author of the popular ''Freakonomics'' book series: ''Freakonomics'',Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of ...

). . * (2008) ''The Pet Dragon: A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters''. ** (2008) in German: ''Der kleine Drache''. . * (2009) ''Windsbraut'' written by T.C.Boyle, illustrated by Christoph Niemann. * (2010) ''SUBWAY''. . * (2010) ''I LEGO N.Y.''. . ** (2010) ''I LEGO N.Y.'' (German edition) . * (2011) ''That's How''. . * (2012) ''Abstract City''. (English edition) . ** (2012) ''Abstract City - Mein Leben unterm Strich''. (German edition) . * (2012) ''Der Kartoffelkönig''. . * * * * * *

References

External links

*
''Ahora'': Interview with Christoph NiemannAbstract City
– a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' blog by Christoph Niemann
Video interview with gestalten.tvInterview with the99percentFresh Air interview on NPR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niemann, Christoph 1970 births Living people People from Waiblingen American illustrators German illustrators German stamp designers The New Yorker people State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart alumni