Bemelmans, Ludwig, 1898–1962 American author and illustrator of children's books, b. Meran, Austria-Hungary (now in Italy), to Belgian and German parents. Trained in the hotel and restaurant business, he immigrated to New York City (1914), served in the U.S. Army during World War I, and became an American citizen (1918). After the war he began drawing hotel employees and patrons, then created cartoons and later children's books. His most famous series details the adventures of Madeline and her fellow Parisian boarding-school girls, including Madeline (1939; animated short film, 1952), Madeline's Rescue (1953; Caldecott Medal), Madeline and the Bad Hat (1956), and Madeline in London (1961). In Sunshine (1950), set in New York City, a music teacher avoids eviction with her students help. Madeline at the White House (2011), first suggested Jacqueline Kennedy, was written by Bemelmans' grandson, John Bemelmans Marciano, 1970–, who has added other books to the series. Ludwig Bemelmans also created covers for The New Yorker and a mural of Central Park in the Bemelmans Bar of New York City's Carlyle Hotel.
See biography by Q. Blake and L. B. Newell (2019).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: American Literature: Biographies
