The artist's full name is Hendrik Magdelanus Bruna. He was born in Utrecht on 23 August 1927 and has always lived and worked in the city. He started to draw in 1940 and among the books he illustrated was the series entitled Zwarte Beertjes (Little Black Bears). Bruna has won a great number of awards, including prizes for his picture books: the Zilveren Griffel (annual children's book award) for lieve oma pluis (dear grandma fluff) in 1997; the Zilveren Penseel (annual children's book award) for nijntje in de tent (nijntje in the tent) in 1966; and the Gouden Penseel (annual children's book award) for boris beer (boris the bear) in 1990. He is the spiritual father of characters like weegje, egel, lotje, gobe, the dog snuffie, the pig betje big, the little bears boris and barbara and of course nintje. Dick Bruna is very well-known in Japan and other foreign countries.
Less is more..
Not only has Dick Bruna made almost a hundred picture books but he has also designed more than two thousand book covers, a good one hundred posters as well as producing scores of postcards and prints. The book covers, posters and picture books made at the same time have had an inspiring effect on one another. Dick Bruna makes pictograms, he does not make illustrations. A poster, he says, should be readable at a glance. It should work by hitting you in the face. But a poster must also be humane and, if at all possible, friendly. Dick Bruna is always in search of straightforwardness and simplicity. The message must be immediately recognisable in the image. The text must be short and striking and must complement the image.
