Trina Schart Hyman, 65, Book Illustrator
By WOLFGANG SAXON
Published: November 24, 2004
New York Times
Trina Schart Hyman, who illustrated an entire shelf of children's books and inspired many others who worked in the genre, died on Friday in Lebanon, N.H. She was 65 and lived in Lyme, N.H.
The cause was complications of breast cancer, said Jean Aull, her partner.
She won the Caldecott Medal, the highest award for authors and artists in her field, for Margaret Hodges's ''St. George and the Dragon: A Golden Legend Adapted From Edmund Spenser's 'Faerie Queen''' (Little, Brown: 1984). She won Caldecott honors three times, for ''Little Red Riding Hood''; ''A Child's Calendar,'' with text by John Updike; and ''Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins'' by Eric A. Kimmel (Holiday House, 1989).
She joined the staff of Cricket magazine for children as an artist and illustrator in 1972 and became its art director. By the time she left, in 1979, she had established herself as a model for many others looking for a career in children's book publishing.
In all, Ms. Hyman illustrated more than 150 books. Her watercolors, oils and drawings enlivened everything from collected stories to novels to poetry, as well as oft-retold classics like ''Sleeping Beauty,'' ''Rapunzel'' and the Arthurian legends.
She worked with readers as young as toddlers in mind, and she was widely known for opening their eyes to folklore and fairy tales. Her pictures gave form to the imagery conjured up by master storytellers like the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Mark Twain, Dickens, Chaucer, Dylan Thomas and, not least, Margot Fonteyn's retelling of ''Swan Lake.''
She also wrote her own books, which she illustrated, including ''How Six Found Christmas'' (Holiday House, 1991); ''A Little Alphabet'' (William Morrow, 1993); her retelling of the Grimms' ''Little Red Riding Hood'' (Holiday House, 1983); and ''Self-Portrait: Trina Schart Hyman'' (Addison-Wesley, 1981). Another more recent favorite was ''A Child's Calendar'' (Holiday House, 1999), in which she illustrated poems by Mr. Updike, one for each month.
John Briggs, publisher of Holiday House, estimated her output at millions of copies, with many of her books translated for publication in other countries.
She was born Trina Schart in Philadelphia and grew up in Doylestown, Pa. She studied at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and the Boston Museum School of Art in the late 1950's and trained for one more year at the Konstfackskolan, the Swedish State Art School, in Stockholm in 1960 and 1961.
Her first work was published in Sweden in 1961, to accompany stories about ''Toffe and the Little Car.'' By the end of the 1960's, she had done more than two dozen book from American publishers like Houghton, Scholastic, Bobbs-Merrill and LittleBrown.
Her marriage to Harris Hyman, of Portland, Ore., ended in divorce.Besides Ms. Aull, Ms. Hyman is survived by her daughter, Katrin Tchana of Fairlee, Vt., for whom she illustrated a retelling of ''The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women'' (Little, Brown; 1998); and two grandsons. 1
By WOLFGANG SAXON
Published: November 24, 2004
New York Times
Trina Schart Hyman, who illustrated an entire shelf of children's books and inspired many others who worked in the genre, died on Friday in Lebanon, N.H. She was 65 and lived in Lyme, N.H.
The cause was complications of breast cancer, said Jean Aull, her partner.
She won the Caldecott Medal, the highest award for authors and artists in her field, for Margaret Hodges's ''St. George and the Dragon: A Golden Legend Adapted From Edmund Spenser's 'Faerie Queen''' (Little, Brown: 1984). She won Caldecott honors three times, for ''Little Red Riding Hood''; ''A Child's Calendar,'' with text by John Updike; and ''Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins'' by Eric A. Kimmel (Holiday House, 1989).
She joined the staff of Cricket magazine for children as an artist and illustrator in 1972 and became its art director. By the time she left, in 1979, she had established herself as a model for many others looking for a career in children's book publishing.
In all, Ms. Hyman illustrated more than 150 books. Her watercolors, oils and drawings enlivened everything from collected stories to novels to poetry, as well as oft-retold classics like ''Sleeping Beauty,'' ''Rapunzel'' and the Arthurian legends.
She worked with readers as young as toddlers in mind, and she was widely known for opening their eyes to folklore and fairy tales. Her pictures gave form to the imagery conjured up by master storytellers like the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Mark Twain, Dickens, Chaucer, Dylan Thomas and, not least, Margot Fonteyn's retelling of ''Swan Lake.''
She also wrote her own books, which she illustrated, including ''How Six Found Christmas'' (Holiday House, 1991); ''A Little Alphabet'' (William Morrow, 1993); her retelling of the Grimms' ''Little Red Riding Hood'' (Holiday House, 1983); and ''Self-Portrait: Trina Schart Hyman'' (Addison-Wesley, 1981). Another more recent favorite was ''A Child's Calendar'' (Holiday House, 1999), in which she illustrated poems by Mr. Updike, one for each month.
John Briggs, publisher of Holiday House, estimated her output at millions of copies, with many of her books translated for publication in other countries.
She was born Trina Schart in Philadelphia and grew up in Doylestown, Pa. She studied at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and the Boston Museum School of Art in the late 1950's and trained for one more year at the Konstfackskolan, the Swedish State Art School, in Stockholm in 1960 and 1961.
Her first work was published in Sweden in 1961, to accompany stories about ''Toffe and the Little Car.'' By the end of the 1960's, she had done more than two dozen book from American publishers like Houghton, Scholastic, Bobbs-Merrill and LittleBrown.
Her marriage to Harris Hyman, of Portland, Ore., ended in divorce.Besides Ms. Aull, Ms. Hyman is survived by her daughter, Katrin Tchana of Fairlee, Vt., for whom she illustrated a retelling of ''The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women'' (Little, Brown; 1998); and two grandsons. 1
