H. A. Rey – American author and illustrator, 1898-1977.
American author and illustrator, 1898-1977. Hans Augusto Rey combined an inquisitive mind and an extensive knowledge of natural sciences with a talent for expressive drawing and achieved an internationally recognized career as a creator and illustrator of picture books for children and adults.
Through foe character of Curious Georges the adventurous tailless monkey, he projected his own lively curiosity in the world around him and at the same time kept his stories within the realm of children’s activities and comprehension. His books are rooted in his keen empathy with children and with their efforts to discover and try new things.
Although Curious George began in England as a character named Zozo and is known in France as Fifi, his mischievous exploits in such books as Curious George (1941)., Curious George Takes a Job (1947), Curious George Rides a Bike (1952), and Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966) are universal and have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
After laying out a rough dummy, Rey did the artwork for many of his books by making the color separations himself. His illustrations make vivid use of strong colors, often with an incisive black outline of objects and figures. They interplay on the page with the text and are full of action and humor. Rey gives his animals, such as George and Cecily G., the giraffe in Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys (1942), individuality as characters, but their actions are informed by his precise knowledge of their anatomy.
During World War II when toys and paper were scarce, Rey anticipated the flap books children enjoy today with a series of small-sized books, Is Anybody at Home? (1939), How Do You Get There? (1941), and Where’s My Baby? (1943), in which the answers were hidden under flaps. His scientific knowledge and interest in stargazing prompted him to write and illustrate The Stars: A New Way to See Them (1952), a picture book for adults. Here his ability as an artist to see spaces and forms led him to try various connecting lines between the stars of a constellation until he had a shape that made visual sense to the layperson. He followed this with Find the Constellations (1954).
After World War I, in which he spent two years as a soldier in the German army, Rey studied languages, philosophy, and natural sciences at universities in Munich and Hamburg, and worked as a lithographer and illustrator. In the 1920s he lived in Brazil. There he met and married his wife, Margret, an artist and writer who was a partner in his work, often co-writing the texts for their books, as well as creating stories of her own, such as Pretzel (1944) and Spotty (1945), for him to illustrate.
He also used the pseudonym Uncle Gus. In 1936 the Reys moved to Paris, and several of his early picture books were published there. When the Nazis approached, the Reys fled on bicycles to Lisbon, eventually reaching New York via Rio de Janeiro in 1940. For many years they lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and summered in New Hampshire.
Since Rey’s death in 1977, a series of books has appeared with the text by Margret Rey and artwork by another artist working in Rey’s style and using the Curious George character, but the art lacks the quality of Rey’s illustrations. Curious George remains, however, a recognized and beloved monkey who will continue to amuse and comfort children for years to come.
L.K.
Source: Children’s Books and their Creators, Anita Silvey.
H.A. Rey – Curious George Books
- Curious George (1941)
- Curious George Takes a Job (1947)
- Curious George Rides a Bike (1952)
- Curious George Gets a Medal (1957)
- Curious George Flies a Kite (1958)
- Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963)
- Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966)
