Dick Bruna

He achieved what many banks and other corporations that try to build a long-lasting relationship with their customers dream of, he has planted the iconographic images of his creations firmly in the minds of the children of this world. In that sense he has few peers, perhaps only Walt Disney.

His best known creation then is Miffy, a little rabbit drawn in as few lines and as few colours as possible, and always accompanied by four lines of verse.

Apart from other series of children's books in the vein of Miffy (which he wrote and drew), Dick Bruna has also illustrated and designed the covers of the books of many well-known authors.

His designs for the covers of Simenon's Maigret are famous. They usually are dominated by a monochrome silhouette of a pipe.

Biography

Dick Bruna was born the son of a man who would become one of the Netherlands largest publishers. The success of the publishing company was based on the fact that they had a book store at almost every railway station, with which the country used to be littered.

Bruna was intended by his father to become a publisher too, but he did not have the knack for the business side. Instead his brother got to follow his father in the business, but Dick Bruna still had many jobs to do in the company.

Over the years, he worked on the graphical design of perhaps thousands of the books published by the company, among which The Saint, James Bond and Shakespeare. He also translated books to Dutch (Maigret).

Influences

At a young age Bruna started drawing, but also getting influenced by other artists. He drew covers for the school news paper in Walt Disney style. Later he admired Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

The biggest influence was perhaps Matisse. Dick Bruna's first works were based on collages by the French painter.

Pablo Picasso and Dick Bruna were said to be admirers of each other's work.