Louis Slobodkin (February 19, 1903 – May 8, 1975) was an American sculptor, writer, and illustrator of numerous

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

Life

Slobodkin was born on February 19, 1903, in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. He attended the

Beaux-Arts Institute of Design The Beaux-Arts Institute of Design (BAID, later the National Institute for Architectural Education) was an art and architectural school at 304 East 44th Street in Turtle Bay, Manhattan, in New York City.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 ...

from 1918 to 1923. He worked as an

elevator operator An elevator operator (North American English), liftman (in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, usually lift attendant), or lift girl (in British English), is a person specifically employed to operate a manually operat ...

, a

dishwasher A dishwasher is a machine that is used to clean dishware, cookware, and cutlery automatically. Unlike dishwashing, manual dishwashing, which relies on physical scrubbing to remove soiling, the mechanical dishwasher cleans by spraying hot wat ...

, and a factory worker. Slobodkin married Florence Gershkowitz, a poet and children's book writer, in 1927. They had two children, Lawrence and Michael. He died of heart failure at his home in

Bay Harbor Islands, Florida Bay Harbor Islands is a town in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The town is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. It is separated from the mainland by Biscayne Bay. The population was 5,922 at the 2020 US census. Histo ...

, on May 8, 1975.

Career

Teaching himself all manner of art from an early age, Slobodkin began to sculpt art at the age of ten. During the early 1930s, he served as an assistant to

Malvina Hoffman Malvina Cornell Hoffman (June 15, 1885July 10, 1966) was an American sculpture, sculptor and author, well known for her life-size bronze sculptures of people. She also worked in plaster and marble. Hoffman created portrait busts of working-class ...

while she was creating the sculptures that would constitute the exhibition

The Races of Mankind ''The Races of Mankind'' is a series of 104 sculptures created for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago by sculptor Malvina Hoffman, representing the various races of human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the mos ...

at the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

. In 1938, his statue, "Abraham Lincoln, Rail Fence Mender," was displayed at the 1939–1940 World's Fair. When Slobodkin went to see it with his wife, the statue had been removed. Varying excuses were given as to why, including that it was too large for the space and casting shadows, and that a woman was offended by the sight of it. Fair Commissioner Edward J. Flynn eventually confirmed that the statue had been destroyed. Slobodkin waged a press campaign, which resulted in him being given a new commission to recast the statue in bronze. The new version was placed in the Headquarters Building of the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relatin ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, and a second bronze cast is in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...

, funded partially by the Sheldon Museum and partially by a community "Pennies for Lincoln" fundraising campaign. Slobodkin did not immediately become involved with children's literature. He illustrated his first children's book in 1941, ''

The Moffats ''The Moffats'' is the first in a series of four children's novels by American author Eleanor Estes. It tells the story of four young children and their mother who live in a small town in Connecticut. Their adventures are based on Estes' memo ...

'', by his friend,

Eleanor Estes Eleanor Estes (May 9, 1906 – July 15, 1988) was an American children's writer and a children's librarian. Her book '' Ginger Pye,'' for which she also created illustrations, won the Newbery Medal. Three of her books were Newbery Honor Winners, ...

, with whom he collaborated on five more books. In 1944, he won the

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

for illustrating '' Many Moons'', written by

James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was best known for his gag cartoon, cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' an ...

. He also wrote and illustrated the popular book series '' The Space Ship Under the Apple Tree''. He was also the author of ''Sculpture; Principles and Practice''.Slobodkin, Louis.
Sculpture; Principles and Practice
'. World Publishing Company, 1949. During his career, Slobodkin illustrated nearly 90 books, 50 of which he also wrote. He collaborated with his wife on five books from 1958 to 1969, including ''The Cowboy Twins'' (1960). Slobodkin's last book was ''Wilbur The Warrior'', published in 1972.

Selected works

Children's books

As author and illustrator: *''Clear the Track for Michael's Magic Train'' (1945) *''The Adventures of Arab'' (1946) *''The Seaweed Hat'' (1947) *''Hustle and Bustle'' (1948) *''Bixxy and the Secret Message'' (1949) *''Circus April 1'' (1953) *''Mr. Petersand's Cats'' (1954) *''Millions and Millions and Millions'' (1955) *''The Amiable Giant'' (1955) *''One is Good, But Two Are Better'' (1956) *''The Little Mermaid Who Could Not Sing'' (1956) *''Melvin the Moose Child'' (1957) *''The Wide-Awake Owl'' (1958) *''Too Many Mittens'' (1958), illustrator and co-author with Florence Slobodkin *''Gogo and the French Seagull'' (1960) *''Io Sono (I am): Italian with Fun'' (1960) *''Nomi and the Lovely Animals'' (1960) *''A Good Place To Hide'' (1961) *''The Late Cuckoo'' (1962) *''Moon Blossom and Golden Penny'' (1963) *''Luigi and the Long-Nosed Soldier'' (1963) *''Picco the Sad Italian Pony'' (1964) *''The Polka-Dot Goat'' (1964) *''Yasu and the Strangers'' (1965) *''Colette and the Princess'' (1965) *''Read about the Busman'' (1967) *Spaceship Under the Apple Tree series **''Spaceship Under the Apple Tree'' (1952) **''Spaceship Returns to the Apple Tree'' (1958) **''Three-Seated Spaceship'' (1958) **''Round-Trip Spaceship'' (1968) **''Spaceship in the Park'' (1972)

Autobiographical

*''Fo'castle Waltz'' (1945) – novel for adults, an illustrated account of Slobodkin's short career as a sailor aboard the tramp boat ''S.S. Hermanita''.

Non-fiction

*''Sculpture: Principles and Practice'' (1949) *''The First Book of Drawing'' (1958)

As illustrator

*''The Moffats'' (1941), written by

*''The Middle Moffat'' (1942), Eleanor Estes *''Rufus M'' (1943), Eleanor Estes *'' Many Moons'' (1943),

*'' The Hundred Dresses'' (1944), Eleanor Estes *''Young Man of the House'' (1946),

Mabel Leigh Hunt Mabel Leigh Hunt (November 1, 1892 – September 3, 1971) was an American people, American writer of children's books. Biography Hunt was born in Coatesville, Indiana, on November 1, 1892, to Quakers Dr. Tilghman Hunt and Amanda (Harvey) Hunt ...

* ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1946 reprint by World Publishing Co.)

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

*''Jonathan and the Rainbow'' (1948),

Jacob Blanck Jacob Nathaniel Blanck (November 10, 1906December 23, 1974) was an American Bibliography, bibliographer, editor, and children's writer. Born in Boston, he attended local schools and briefly ran a bookshop before being hired to assist on a bibliog ...

*''Red Head'' (1951), by Edward Eager *''Gertie the Horse Who Thought and Thought'' (1951), Margarite Glendinning *''The Alhambra'' (1953),

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy ...

* ''Love and Knishes: An Irrepressible Guide to Jewish Cooking" (1956), Sara Kasdan *''Clean Clarence'' (1959), Priscilla Friedrich and

Otto Friedrich Otto Alva Friedrich (1929 in Boston, Massachusetts – April 26, 1995 in Manhasset, New York), was an American author, and historian. The son of the political theorist, and Harvard professor Carl Joachim Friedrich, Otto Friedrich graduated fr ...

*''The Cowboy Twins'' (1960), Florence Slobodkin *''A Thousand for Sicily'' (1961),

Geoffrey Trease Robert Geoffrey Trease FRSL (11 August 1909 – 27 January 1998) was a prolific British writer who published 113 books, mainly for children, between 1934 and 1997, starting with '' Bows Against the Barons'' and ending with ''Cloak for a Spy'' i ...

*''The Beautiful Culpeppers'' (1963), Marion Upington *''The Shoes Fit for a King'' (1956), Helen Bill

References

External links

Bibliography

Louis Slobodkin
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

General information

''Io Sono'', the Louis Slobodkin website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slobodkin, Louis 1903 births 1975 deaths American children's writers Caldecott Medal winners American children's book illustrators Artists from Albany, New York Writers from Albany, New York 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors People from Bay Harbor Islands, Florida Sculptors Guild members Section of Painting and Sculpture artists Sculptors from New York (state) Beaux-Arts Institute of Design (New York City) alumni