Jerry Pinkney
Jerry Pinkney was an American illustrator, children's writer, watercolorist, and postage stamp designer whose career in picture books and graphic art spanned more than five decades.
Born on December 22, 1939, in Philadelphia, Pinkney studied at The University of the Arts before establishing himself as one of the most prolific illustrators working in children's literature. Beginning in 1964, he went on to illustrate over one hundred books, producing a body of work remarkable in its scale and consistency. His citizenship was American, and he worked in English throughout his career, living until his death on October 20, 2021, in Sleepy Hollow.
The honors Pinkney accumulated over the course of his career reflect the sustained quality of his output. He received five Coretta Scott King Awards for illustration, as well as the Children's Literature Legacy Award and the Regina Medal. He was also elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Caldecott Medal came to him in 2010 for his book The Lion & the Mouse, a wordless retelling that demonstrated his confidence in allowing images alone to carry a narrative — a confidence rooted in decades of practice with brush and pigment. Beyond the world of children's books, Pinkney also worked as a postage stamp designer, extending his visual artistry into a different public medium.
Watercolor was the medium Pinkney returned to again and again throughout his working life. The majority of his illustrations were executed in watercolors, a choice that gave his pages a quality of light and translucency well suited to the storytelling traditions — drawn from folklore, history, and animal fable — that recur across his catalogue. That sustained commitment to a single medium, applied across more than a hundred illustrated books and recognized with some of the most significant awards in children's literature, defines the arc of his career as an artist and writer.
Quotes by Jerry Pinkney
I try not to respond with a pep talk, such as, “Everyone has talent, just try, you’ll see.” I skirt those kinds of answers.
I never demonstrate how art should be made or what the outcome should look like. Instead, give kids the tools and the materials to make their own art. Have them experience the process.
I visited the Museum of Modern Art and viewed the exhibition of Picasso’s sculptures, and I couldn’t help but think about what it would be like to have a room full of school children explore Picasso’s approach to making art.
If I were to give myself a pat on the back, it would be for sticking with bookmaking as my primary way of expressing myself over the span of fifty years.
I’ve always felt that if I worked hard enough and continued to refine my craft, while staying curious about our times and our world, I just might have something to contribute.
A sense of community has always been important to me. I understood very early that I could not grow as an artist or as a person without being connected to institutions and clients that served the community.
Receiving both the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award suggests I have succeeded, at least in terms of my own goals, in my intent to make art that moves children.
I want kids to understand that making pictures is similar to making music; there are so many instruments and so many tunes that the possibilities for how you play are truly limitless.
