Monika Beisner
Monika Beisner (born 1942 in Hamburg ) is a German artist and book illustrator.
Life
Monika Beisner studied painting at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig (HBK) and - with a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service - at the Slade School of Fine Art, London and at the Berlin University of the Arts. A Fulbright scholarship enabled her to study in New York. Since 1970 she has lived as a freelance artist in London, Ratzeburg and on Gozo (Malta).
Work
Children's literature
Early in her career, Beisner was best known for her children's books, such as The Heavenly Zoo (1979)[1] and Fabulous Beasts (1981),[2] created in collaboration with the American writer Alison Lurie.
Adult works
More recently, she has concentrated on illustrating classic texts such as Dante's Divine Comedy and Ovid's Metamorphoses.[3] The three-volume edition of Dante's Divine Comedy also includes an essay on Beisner by the historian and mythographer Marina Warner.[4] All 100 of her original paintings for the Divine Comedy are in the collection of the Italian Dante collector Livio Ambrogio.[5]
Beisner's illustrations for Ovid's Metamorphoses were published by Pratt Contemporary, as a portfolio of 36 digital prints.[6]
She is currently working on a new collection of works related to Gilgamesh.
References
- ↑ The heavenly zoo : legends and tales of the stars retold by Alison Lurie ; with pictures by Monika Beisner. New York : Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1979. London : Eel Pie Publishing, 1979.
- ↑ Fabulous beasts; text by Alison Lurie ; illustrated by Monika Beisner. London : Cape 1981
- ↑ The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, with illustrations by Monika Beisner. Verona, Edizioni Valdonega, 2007
- ↑ Marina Warner. Monika Beisner: Illuminating Stories. In: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, with illustrations by Monika Beisner. Verona, Edizioni Valdonega, 2007. pp.228-235.
- ↑ Academy of Ancient Music. Dante panellists: Monika Beisner
- ↑ Monika Beisner. Metamorphoses portfolio. Pratt Contemporary, 2010.