William Steig

Steig, William (1907– ), an American artist whose cartoons in the New Yorker led to success as a children's book illustrator and author. Steig's stories are often talking‐beast tales in which the good‐hearted young protagonist displays the attributes of a fairy‐tale hero (ine) in undertaking a journey and overcoming adversity with the aid of magic. He won the Caldecott Medal for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969), the story of a donkey turned to stone because of a misguided wish, and a Caldecott Honor for The Amazing Bone (1976), about a pig rescued from the clutches of a fox by a bone that speaks in several languages, including at least one effective witch spell. His Newbery Honor Book Dr DeSoto (1982) is a trickster tale about a mouse dentist who outsmarts another foxy adversary, this one with a toothache as well as a taste for raw rodent ‘with just a pinch of salt, and a dry white wine’. Although Steig has also proved adept at longer fantasies, including the Newbery Honor Book Abel's Island (1976), his most prolific genre has been the picture book, in which spontaneous pen‐and‐wash illustrations project his clear plots and witty narrative with equally clear colours and witty linework. Steig's ongoing send‐ups of traditional lore are clearly reflected in Shrek! (1990), which includes a witch, a dragon, and a princess, who is just as ugly as the dragon himself, with whom she lives ‘horribly ever after’; and The Toy Brother (1996), a cross between Little Tom Thumb and the sorcerer's apprentice theme.

Bibliography

• Bottner, Barbara, ‘William Steig: The Two Legacies’, The Lion and the Unicorn, 2.1 (1978).
• Moss, Anita, ‘The Spear and the Piccolo: Heroic and Pastoral Dimensions of William Steig's Dominic and Abel's Island’, Children's Literature, 10 (1982).
• Wilner, Arlene, ‘“Unlocked by Love”: William Steig's Tales of Transformation and Magic’, Children's Literature, 18 (1990).

— Betsy Hearne

(1907-2003)

OBITUARY NOTICE: Born November 14, 1907, in New York, NY; died October 3, 2003, in Boston, MA. Cartoonist, illustrator, and author. Steig was best known as an award-winning cartoonist for the New Yorker and as the author of children's books such as Abel's Island and Shrek. The son of European immigrants who encouraged their son to be an artist, Steig attended City College (now of the City University of New York) in the early 1920s and the National Academy of Design in New York City from 1925 to 1929. But he was not the most enthusiastic of students; his time at Yale University lasted only six days. However, Steig found early success as an artist and was able to easily support his parents and siblings in his first year as a professional after being hiredbythe New Yorker in 1930. He did single-panel cartoons featuring his characteristic squiggly-lined drawings and clever one-liners. Steig was unique in that he emphasized the drawings over the writing, something that ran counter to what cartoonists had been doing until then. More milestones occurred in 1936 for Steig, including his abandonment of one-liner cartoons and his exploration into wood sculpting (he had his first exhibition in 1939) and a series of what he called "symbolic drawings," which were his attempts to express emotions and states of mind visually. These drawings were later incorporated into merchandise ranging from cocktail napkins to playing cards. The artist has also been credited with influencing the greeting card business by employing humor that bordered on the rude, rather than writing the usual sweet and endearing messages. Steig started publishing collections of his cartoons as early as 1932, the year he released Man about Town, which was followed by many more such books, including collections of his New Yorker work in Small Fry (1944) and William Steig: Drawings (1979), as well as collections of his symbolic drawings in such works as About People (1939) and All Embarrassed (1944). A new facet of Steig's career began when fellow New Yorker cartoonist Bob Kraus persuaded Steig to write his first children's book. The result was 1968's CDB! Steig discovered he had a natural gift for writing and illustrating juvenile books, and he thus embarked on a successful career that included award-winning books such as Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969), Amos and Boris (1971), Dominic (1972), The Real Thief (1973), Gorky Rises (1980), Doctor De Soto Goes to Africa (1992), and Shrek! (1993), the last of which was made into a blockbuster, computeranimated film. His last book to be published was the auto-biographical When Everybody Wore a Hat (2003), which focuses on his childhood years. Steig's awards are almost too numerous to list, but include such prizes as the Caldecott Medal, the Christopher Award, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, and the National Book Award.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

Books

• St. James Guide to Children's Literature, fifth edition, St. James (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Periodicals

• Independent (London, England), October 7, 2003, p. 16.
• Los Angeles Times, October 5, 2003, p. B16.
• New York Times, October 6, 2003, p. A17.
• Times (London, England), October 8, 2003.
• Washington Post, October 6, 2003, p. B5.

• Born: Nov 14, 1907 in New York
• Died: Oct 03, 2003 in Boston, Massachusetts
• Occupation: Writer, Actor
• Active: '80s, 2000s
• Major Genres: Children's/Family
• Career Highlights: Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third
• First Major Screen Credit: Doctor De Soto (1984)

Biography

Though he is likely best known as the author of the bestselling children's book Shrek! (translated into a Oscar-nominated animated theatrical feature in 2001), author/illustrator William Steig penned over 30 beloved children's novels after getting a late start at the age of 60. A Brooklyn, NY, native who claimed that his aversion to the elderly proved essential in maintaining a youthful outlook, Steig began his career as a cartoonist by writing for his high school newspaper. Later furthering his education at the National Academy of Design, it wasn't long before Steig's fascination with psychoanalysis led to his penning the 1942 book The Lonely Ones, widely celebrated for it's innovative interpretation of human neuroses. Hired by the New Yorker after selling one of his cartoons to editor Harold Ross in 1930, Steig's work in the following seven decades helped to define the magazine by contributing over 1,600 drawings and 117 cover illustrations. It wasn't until the age of 60 that Steig discovered his talent for writing children's books, with his 1970 effort Sylvester and the Magic Pebble earning the author a Caldecott Medal. On October 3, 2003, William Steig died of natural causes in his Boston home. He was 95. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

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