Nancy Ekholm Burkert (born February 16, 1933) is an American artist and

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 ...

. Her most celebrated work is the

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'' (1972), which was 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 ...

'' Notable Book and a Caldecott Honor Book (one runner-up for 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 ...

Biography

Burkert was born in

Sterling, Colorado Sterling is a home rule municipality and the county seat and most populous municipality of Logan County, Colorado, United States. Sterling is the principal city of the Sterling, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city population was 13,735 ...

, and moved with her family to

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

in 1945. She received both her bachelor's and master's degrees from the

University of Wisconsin, Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

. Burkert's first illustration work was for ''

James and the Giant Peach ''James and the Giant Peach'' is a children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The first edition, published by Alfred Knopf, featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. There have been re-illustrated versions of it over ...

'' in 1961. In 1982, she was co-author of a museum catalog for the

Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (also referred to as MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection of over 34,000 works of art and gallery spaces totaling 150,000 sq. ft. (13,900 m²) make it the largest art museum in the state of Wis ...

, on the Wisconsin artist

John Wilde John Wilde (December 12, 1919 – March 9, 2006) was an American painter, draughtsman, and printmaker from Wisconsin. He spent the majority of his life in the state and taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for over 35 years. Wilde ...

. She won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Special Award for ''

Valentine and Orson ''Valentine and Orson'' is a romance which has been attached to the Carolingian cycle. Synopsis It is the story of twin brothers, abandoned in the woods in infancy. Valentine is brought up as a knight at the court of Pepin, while Orson grows ...

'' in 1990. In 2003, she was subject of an exhibition at the

Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is a museum devoted to the art of the picture book and especially the children's book. It is a member of Museums10 and is adjacent to the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Carle wa ...

in Amherst. She married Robert Burkert (1930-2019), a professor of Fine Art at UW-Milwaukee. Several of Robert Burkert's lithographs are in the

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

collection of prints and drawings. Together they went on to have a son and daughter, with whom they spent time in Europe and at their family cottage in northern

. The couple retired to the coastal area in historic East Orleans,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Work

Her early work demonstrated a command of shading and texture through pencil and charcoal, in addition to her usual media of pen and ink combined with colored pencil and watercolor. Beginning with ''The Nightingale'' and concluding with ''Snow White'', her mastery of light, shadow and depth combined

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...

with an

Oriental The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

awareness of space in settings that were realistic in detail, yet also fanciful and timeless in content. Her later work continued this emphasis on intense, intimate detail, revealing a passion for the complexity and variety of life. Her illustration work on Valentine & Orson was considered to be a consistently whole work of art that was remarkable for its attention to detail and luminosity.

Illustrated works

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

, ''

'' (1961) *Natalie Savage Carlson, ''Jean-Claude’s Island'' (1963) *Meindert de Jong, ''Big Goose and the Little White Duck'' (1963) *

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

, '' The Nightingale'' (1965) *

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

, ''Child’s Calendar'' (1965) *

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

and

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his Light poetry, light verse, of which he wrote more than 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyme, rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York T ...

, ''

The Scroobious Pip "The Scroobious Pip" is a nonsense verse poem left unfinished by Edward Lear at the time of his death in 1888. Premise The poem tells of a fanciful animal of unknown taxonomy known only as "the Scroobious Pip" and the fruitless attempts of th ...

'' (1968) *

, ''The Fir Tree'' (1970) *

The Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of folktales, popularizing stories such as " Cin ...

, ''

'' (1972) *David Larkin, ed., ''The Art of Nancy Ekholm Burkert'' (1977) *

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

, ''Acts of Light'' (1980) *''

'' (1989), written and illustrated

Awards

*1972

Notable Book: ''Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs'' *1973 Caldecott Award, Honor Book: ''Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs'' *1989

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...

: ''Valentine and Orson'' *1995 Wisconsin Library Association Wisconsin Notable Authors

References

External links

Eric Carle Museum exhibit
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burkert, Nancy Ekholm 1933 births Living people American children's book illustrators American children's writers Writers from Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni People from Sterling, Colorado 20th-century American illustrators 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers Writers from Colorado Artists from Wisconsin Artists from Colorado American women children's writers American women children's book illustrators

Biography

Work

Illustrated works

Awards

Further reading

References

External links