Robert Roger IngpenAM, FRSA (born 13 October 1936)[1] is an Australian graphic designer, illustrator, and writer. For his "lasting contribution" as a children's illustrator he received the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1986.[2][3]
Early life
Ingpen was born in Geelong, Victoria, and attended Geelong College to 1957. He graduated with a Diploma of Graphic Art from RMIT in 1958, where he studied with Harold Freedman.[4]
Career
In 1958, Ingpen was appointed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as an artist to interpret and communicate the results of scientific research. From 1968 Ingpen worked as a freelance designer, illustrator and author. He was also a member of a United Nations team in Mexico and Peru until 1975, where he designed pamphlets on fisheries and was involved in "a number of Australian conservation and environmental projects".[4] He left the CSIRO to work full-time as a freelance writer in 1968.[4] Ingpen's interest in conservation issues continued, and he was one of the founding members of the Australian Conservation Foundation.[4]
Work
Ingpen has written or illustrated more than 100 published books. These include children's picture books and fictional stories for all ages. His nonfiction books mostly relate to history, conservation, environment and health issues. His most frequent collaborator has been the author and editor Michael Page.
In 1982 Ingpen designed the Dromkeen Medal for the Governors of the Courtney Oldmeadow Children's Literature Foundation. The Dromkeen is awarded annually to Australians in recognition of contributions to children's literature, and Ingpen received it himself in 1989 for his own work in the field.[6]
In 1999 Ingpen had a major retrospective exhibition in Taipei, which travelled to other regions of Taiwan for a two-month period. Also in 1999 an exhibition of the original artworks and book launch for Around the World in 80 Days was held in London.[8]
In 2002 Ingpen had a solo exhibition in Bologna, Italy, and works from Shakespeare were exhibited in New York City.[8]
In 2002 Ingpen's work featured in the inaugural exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Massachusetts, and he donated to the Museum the illustrations for Charise Neugebauer's Halloween Circus at the Graveyard Lawn (2003).
He received the Australian Dromkeen Medal in 1989.[6] In 2005 he was made honorary doctor of arts by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology[citation needed] and in 2007 made a member of the Order of Australia for "service to literature as an illustrator and author of children's books, to art design and education, and as a supporter of health care organisations."[9]
Awards for particular works:
Visual Arts Board award for children's book illustration for Storm Boy
1980 River Murray Mary was commended in the Children's Book of the Year awards[10]
The Adventures of Pinocchio (2014) by Carlo Collodi [1883 in Italian][14]
‡ 12 works named by Palazzo Editions in two pages on Ingpen. The Night Before Christmas and The Owl and the Pussycat differ in format, larger and much shorter than the "Palazzo Children's Classics" series (192 to 240pp, 235 x 195mm).[12]
Beginnings and Endings with Lifetimes in Between (1983) by Ingpen and Bryan Mellonie; North American title, evidently Lifetimes: a Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children, OCLC17509505
^ abcd"Robert Ingpen and the Children's Classics series". News. 28 July 2011.
· "Robert Ingpen". Authors. "Taken from RMIT University Alumni Hall of Fame"; evidently augmented by Palazzo's list of Children's Classics to 2012 and selected links.
Palazzo Editions (palazzo.extra-strong.co.uk). Retrieved 28 July 2014.
^ ab"Robert Ingpen". AUSTLIT (austlit.edu.au). Retrieved 18 July 2014.
^ ab
About the author. "The Adventures of Pinocchio" (product display). Walker Books Australia and New Zealand. Retrieved 18 July 2014.