JAN PIEŃKOWSKI PAPERS

de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
The University of Southern Mississippi

	Creator:	Jan Pieńkowski
	Title:	Jan Pieńkowski Papers
	Dates:	1964 - 2001
	Quantity:	71.5 cubic feet (51 boxes, 56 map drawers, and 4 tubes)
	Identification:	DG0780

Biographical Note

Jan Pieńkowski (pronounced pien-KOFF-ski) was born in Warsaw, Poland, on August 8, 1936, the only child of Jerzy and Wanda (Garlicka) Pieńkowski. As a child, he drew pictures and constructed objects, which were appropriate activities for a boy born into a family that included several artists and architects. Wartime conditions prevented Pieńkowski from going to school until age ten, when his family moved to England after the war. He eventually read Classics and English at Cambridge University, but found diversion designing posters, greeting cards, and theater properties for friends. After graduation Pieńkowski worked in advertising, mostly designing posters. He and some friends founded Gallery Five, a greeting card company, in 1958. By the mid 1960s, their cards-particularly the "robin" cards-had become quite popular.

Pieńkowski made his earliest children's book illustrations-mostly silhouette illustrations-for books written by other authors, especially Joan Aiken. He won the Library Association's Kate Greenaway Medal for his silhouette technique in Aiken's Kingdom under the Sea (1972). Pieńkowski became more involved in children's book design after meeting Helen Nicholl, then head of children's programming for BBC Television, while he was creating graphics for a children's television series. The collaboration of her writing and his illustration resulted in the popular "Meg and Mog" children's book series about a witch and her pet cat. In 1979 Pieńkowski produced Haunted House, his first pop-up book. Its immediate and universal appeal earned him a second Greenaway Medal. He has since created almost twenty pop-up books in collaboration with "paper engineering" specialists who translate his ideas into physical form.

In the mid-1980s Pieńkowski found commercial success generating a series of "concept" books using simple, colorful illustrations with bold black outlines to introduce sizes, shapes, time, weather, animals, and colors to pre-school children. In the 1990s, his continuing interest in stage design resulted in his creation of a stage adaptation of the Meg and Mog series, as well as commissioned works for the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden and EuroDisney in Paris. Currently, Jan Pieńkowski lives and works in London, where he creates children's book illustrations using computers. He also works with television adaptations of Meg and Mog and creates studio artwork in his free time.

Sources:
The official Jan Pieńkowski website, www.janpienkowski.com, accessed 25 February 2003.
Children's Literature Review (Detroit: Gale Research Group, 1984), 6:228-33.
Fourth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators (New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1978), 286-88.
Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults (Detroit: Gale Research Group, 1993), 5:1880-2.

Scope and Content Note

The Jan Pieńkowski Papers contain original illustrations and drawings, paintings, dummies, typescripts, correspondence, photographs, and printed material created and accumulated by Jan Pieńkowski between 1964 and 2001. Pieńkowski's papers were created from his composition of 99 published books, four comic strips, and nine unpublished books; the merchandising of books created by him; the production of commercial artwork both individually and by his greeting card company, Gallery Five; and the creation of artwork for his personal use. The material is organized into seven series: published books, book series material, comics, unpublished books, merchandising, commercial artwork, and personal artwork.

The Published Books Series contains original illustrations, die drawings, page proofs, photographs, lettering, and dummies for 99 books published between 1967 and 2001. The papers in the series are arranged alphabetically by title and the material for each book is arranged chronologically in order of creation when known. The quantity of material for specific titles in the Published Books Series varies tremendously, from a single proof to a huge assortment of illustrations, dummies, and pop-up engineering pieces. The container listing offers detailed descriptions of the holdings for each title and information on the material's process of creation may be gleaned easily from the container listing for each book.

Some of the titles in the Published Books Series include material for other titles derived from the original British edition, such as additional editions published in the U.K., revised versions printed in America, and pop-up versions of books originally published in two dimensions. Pieńkowski's series of "concept" books for pre-schoolers are fitting examples of such numerous variations. These books taught concepts such as sizes, shapes, time, weather, animals, and colors using simple illustrations with bright colors and bold outlines and only a single word on each page. Almost all of the books were published originally in Britain in an 18 centimeter size. An American version usually followed the same year, but as a 9 centimeter "board book." It retained the same illustrations as the British version, but omitted the front matter, back matter, and endpapers. Sometimes, even more derivatives followed, such as pop-up books and paneled friezes to tack onto nursery room walls. Farm, for example, appeared as two separate editions in Britain, as a board book in America, a pop-up book, and a set of nursery friezes. In such occasions, Pieńkowski usually drew one set of master illustrations for the first book and then amended them to suit later works. His papers contain the original master illustrations for all of his concept books, although these drawings may be found filed among any of the derivative works depending on how they ultimately were used.

Pieńkowski's signature pop-up books are well represented in the Published Books Series. It includes original material for more than 20 titles, including Haunted House, Botticelli's Bed and Breakfast, and ABC Dinosaurs. The material illustrates Pieńkowski's methods for creating his most intricate pop-ups, although he constructed no two pop-up books in exactly the same way. Consequently, it is difficult to ascertain the exact order of creation of the material for each book. Nevertheless, all of his pop-up books progressed more-or-less through the same general stages, as outlined by David Carter and James Diaz in The Elements of Pop-Up (1999). (Coincidentally, Carter and Diaz contributed their paper engineering skills to some of Pieńkowski's books.) Illustrations, called "die drawings," make up the book's moving pieces. The die drawings are then cut out and pasted onto or inserted into "base pages." The resulting assembled "paper engineering" dummy is then tested to see how smoothly the moving parts work when the dummy pages are opened. Revised die drawings are made if necessary. Once die drawings and base pages are acceptable, the individual die drawings and base page layouts are composed into "nesting sheets," meaning that the pieces are arranged as closely together as possible to conserve paper at final cutting. Most of Pieńkowski's pop-up books were assembled by Intervisual Books, Inc. in Santa Monica, California, and at factories in Columbia, South America.

The Book Series Material Series contains correspondence, typescripts, cloth samples, page proofs, and lettering for seven series of books. The series includes material pertaining to an entire book series in general, but not to any single title in particular. The Book Series Material Series contains copious correspondence for the popular Meg and Mog series, as well as cover proofs, a promotional poster, and an illustration. The series contains relatively little material for six lesser known sets of books. The material in the series spans the years 1971 to 1999 and is arranged alphabetically by series title.

The Comics Series consists of original illustrations for four comic strip-style stories published in British magazines between 1979 and 1987: "Chip's Comic," "Murfy & PhIX," "The Robots," and "Star Pirates." "Murfy & PhIX" and "The Robots" were published later as books, Robot being a pop-up book. The illustrations in the series are arranged alphabetically by comic strip title.

The Unpublished Books Series contains dummies, illustrations, scripts, and notes for nine unpublished books created between 1990 and 1999. Seven of the nine works were intended to be parts of existing book series, Planet Rusty and Pop & Buzz being the two exceptions. The material in the series is arranged alphabetically by title and the material for each work is arranged chronologically in order of creation when known.

The Merchandising Series consists of illustrations and other production material for five types of commercial products based on published books created by Jan Pieńkowski. The material spans the years 1976 to 1995. The series is organized into five subseries: coloring books, greeting cards, Haunted House CD-ROM, nursery friezes, and Meg and Mog Birthday Book. The subseries are arranged alphabetically.

The Coloring Books Subseries contains production material for six coloring books modeled after published books. They are arranged alphabetically by title. The Greeting Cards Subseries consists of prototypes of greeting cards created by Gallery Five that are based on characters from three Pieńkowski books. The production material for the Haunted House CD-ROM game includes original illustrations, paste-ups, page proofs, and photographs. A few of the early illustrations bear Pieńkowski's notes concerning specific interactive features. The material is arranged based on the progression of each of the game's individual computer screens. The Nursery Friezes Subseries consists mostly of original and printed illustrations for nursery friezes derived from nine concept books. Most of the original illustrations from which the friezes are based are organized under the corresponding titles in the Published Books Series. Finally, the Merchandising Series contains original and printed illustrations for the Meg and Mog Birthday Book.

The Commercial Artwork Series contains illustrations, paintings, photographs, and printed material for commercial artwork produced both by Galley Five and by Jan Pieńkowski alone on a freelance basis. The items span the years 1964 to 1990 and are organized into two subseries: Gallery Five and other graphic art. The material in each subseries is arranged alphabetically by title of work where possible.

The Gallery Five Subseries consists of illustrations, paintings, and printed material primarily for Christmas holiday cards. The subseries also features examples of Galley Five's famous "robin" cards. The Other Graphic Art Subseries contains artwork for posters, prints, and logos apparently produced by Pieńkowski on a freelance basis.

The Personal Artwork Series is organized into two subseries: studio art and other personal artwork. The Studio Art Subseries consists of more than 800 drawings of nudes, portraits, and landscapes created by Pieńkowski between 1976 and the early 1990s. Pieńkowski, who had been drawing from life since age fourteen, met regularly at his London studio with a group of artist and designer friends to draw from models or each other. The great majority of his drawings are of nude models made with a wide variety of media and papers, but his output is diversified with the inclusion of some portraits and landscapes. Pieńkowski labeled some drawings with the name of the model or the date of the drawing. He often noted the amount of time he took to sketch a model, usually anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes. The artwork in the Studio Art Subseries is arranged chronologically and the drawings that fall within each rough span of time are arranged categorically wherever possible. The Other Personal Artwork Subseries contains handmade greeting cards, a fan, an ink sketch, and a black marker used by the artist. They are in no particular order.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Use

Noncirculating; available for research.

Copyright Restrictions

The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for "private study, scholarship, or research." It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above.

Separated Material

Oversized book material is kept in tubes 1-4 and map drawers 3/A - C. Studio art is kept in map drawers H/1 - 30 and K/1 - 22.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item), Jan Pieńkowski Papers, de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi Libraries, (box/folder numbers).

Provenance

These papers were donated to the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection of the University of Southern Mississippi Libraries by Jan Pieńkowski between 1979 and 2000.

Processing Information

Processed by C. Alder, March 2003. Encoded into EAD Version 1.0 by Danielle L. Bishop. This finding aid is the product of a grant funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Container Listing