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 complicat ...
,
graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...
, and
children's book author.
Since July 2008, Niemann has been writing and illustrating ''
The New York Times'' blog Abstract City, renamed Abstract Sunday in 2011, when the blog moved to ''
The New York Times Magazine''.
Personal life
He studied at the
State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart
The State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart (German: Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart) is a university in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded on 25 June 1761, and located since 1946 on the Weißenhof, the Academy, whose historical sig ...
under
Heinz Edelmann.
After finishing his studies in Germany in 1997, he moved to
New York City. After 11 years in New York City, he moved to
Berlin 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'', ''
Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', ''
The New York Times Magazine'' and ''American Illustration'', and has won awards from
AIGA, the
Art Directors Club 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 527 members from 43 countries. Its members have been collectively responsible for the identity design of most of the world's top co ...
. 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.
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 used two of his images to celebrate the 2013
summer
Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...
and
winter solstices as the
Google Doodle of the day. Niemann was profiled in the first season of the
Netflix docu-series, ''
Abstract: The Art of Design''.
Niemann produced ''Traffic Pong'' in 2019, a video art piece that depicts a game of ''
Pong'' superimposed over aerial footage of traffic over
Paulista Avenue in
São Paulo. 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 hi ...
and
Paula Scher). .
* (2005) ''100% Evil'' (with Nicholas Blechman and
Chip Kidd). .
* (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'' 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