Nancy Ekholm Burkert
(1933 - 0)
Nancy Ekholm Burkert is an American artist and illustrator, first known for her 1961 illustrated book, the original edition of James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. Her most celebrated work, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1972), won the New York Times Notable Book Award and was named a Caldecott Honor Book.
Her early work demonstrated a command of shading and texture through pencil and charcoal, in addition to her usual media of pen and ink combined with colored pencil and watercolor. Beginning with The Nightingale and concluding with Snow White, her mastery of light, shadow and depth combined Renaissance chiaroscuro with an Oriental awareness of space in settings that were realistic in detail, yet also fanciful and timeless in content. Her later work continued this emphasis on intense, intimate detail, revealing a passion for the complexity and variety of life.
Burkert was born in Sterling, Colorado on February 16, 1933, and moved with her family to Wisconsin in 1945. She married Robert Burkert, a professor of art at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and has two children.
In 1982, she was co-author of a museum catalog for the Milwaukee Art Museum, on the Wisconsin artist John Wilde. In 2003, she was subject of an exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA.
Bibliography
Acts of Light (1980)
There is no Frigate like a Book
Because I could not stop for Death-
I taste a liquor never brewed-
Read online at archive.org.
The Art of Nancy Ekholm Burkert (1977)
An appreciation and generous selection of illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert.
Read online at archive.org.
The Big Goose and the Little White Duck (1963)
A boy buys a big goose and the goose’s friend, a little duck, as pets for his mother, but grandfather wants goose for dinner.
Read online at archive.org.
A Child’s Calendar (1965)
A poem for each month of the year.
Read online at archive.org.
A Child’s Calendar (1989)
A poem for every month of the year.
Read online at archive.org.
The Fir Tree (1970)
The little fir tree is not content with its life in the forest and longs to be a Christmas tree.
Read online at archive.org.
Guide to Modern English 10 (1960)
An English text for tenth grade.
Et al
Jean-Claude’s Island (1963)
Will a tractor come to Jean-Claude’s island in the St. Lawrence River?
A Mother Goose portfolio (1983)
A dozen nursery rhyme illustrations by twelve artists.
Nancy Ekholm Burkert
Trina Schart Hyman
David Macaulay
Chris Van Allsburg
Et al
Mouse & Lion (2011)
The King of Beasts graciously lets the Mouse go on his way, and the mouse returns the favor.
Read online at archive.org.
Nancy Ekholm Burkert: The Art of Illustration: A Deep and Delicate Vision (2003)
The catalog of an exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art held January 31, 2003 through March 30, 2004.
The Nightingale (1965)
The classic tale of the Emperor who could not treasure the real over the artificial, until death came for him.
Read online at archive.org.
Eva Le Gallienne
The Scroobious Pip (1968)
The Scroobious Pip went out one day
When the grass was green and the sky was gray.
Then all the beasts in the world came round
When the Scroobious Pip sat down on the ground.
Read online at archive.org.
Ogden Nash
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1972)
A beautifully rendered version of this classic tale.
Valentine & Orson (1989)
Twins separated at birth, one raised by a bear, the other by the King of France recognize each other on the field of honor.