Dick Bruna

Dick Bruna (Utrecht, August 23, 1927-ibid., February 16, 2017) was a Dutch writer, artist, graphic designer, and cartoonist.

Bruna became famous for her illustrated children's stories, which many times managed to remain in the memory of those who read her books as children. His best known creation is Miffy, a little rabbit drawn in a simplistic style with very few lines and as few colors as possible.

In addition to other similarly styled children's books (which he wrote and illustrated), Dick Bruna illustrated several book covers by well-known authors. His cover designs for the detective Maigret novels by Georges Simenon are especially famous.

Biography

Dick Bruna was the son of one of the largest publishers in the Netherlands. The success of his publishing venture was based on the fact that they owned a bookstore in practically every train station.

His father wanted him to become a publisher as well, but he wasn't much into business. Instead, his brother followed in his father's footsteps by taking over the family business.

Over the years he worked on the design of perhaps several thousand books published by the company. He also took care of the translation of several books into Dutch.

Influences

He began drawing at an early age, but was influenced by other artists as well. He drew covers for his school newspaper in the style of Walt Disney. Arguably the biggest influence on him was Henri Matisse. Dick Bruna's early works were based on collages by the French painter. It is said that Dick Bruna and Pablo Picasso mutually admired his work.