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Ludwig Bemelmans Art

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Artist: Ludwig Bemelmans
"Coney Island" Brooklyn NYC Amusement Park Mid-century American Scene WPA Modern
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in New York, NY
"Coney Island" Brooklyn NYC Amusement Park Mid-century American Scene WPA Modern Ludwig Bemelmans (1898 – 1962), “Coney Island" 35 x 27 inches Oil on board Signed lower left Origin...
Category

1940s American Modern Ludwig Bemelmans Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Debonair Man Cuts his Mustache in Front of Mirror
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Miami, FL
Welcome to the wonderfully delightful mind of Ludwig Bemelmans. With a few quick lines, Bemelmans captures the essence of a subject. In this work, the artist portrays a distinguished...
Category

1950s Outsider Art Ludwig Bemelmans Art

Materials

Watercolor, Ink

Perfect Service (La Bonne Table illustration)
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Ludwig Bemelmans (1898-1962). Perfect Service, ca. 1950. Brushed ink on paper, 19 x 24 inches. Annotated and authenticated by wife, Madeleine Bemelmans, in pencil en verso, 1979. Identified as illustration appearing on page 414 in La Bonne Table, (Simon and Schuster), 1964. Unframed. Conservation work includes removal of tapes from verso corners, surface dry clean, removal of mat line and light exposure stains, deacidification and flattening. "Writing is always a dreadful, tiresome business and the worst of all tortures for me, because I am convinced that I am not a writer but a graphic workman, a painter who hangs pictures in a row, who collects imagery, and my problem is always to find one for a beginning and one for an end and then, something to hang in the middle so that it resembles a book," said Ludwig Bemelmans (1898 - 1962). Graphic workman, painter—whatever he called himself, Bemelmans belongs in the Pantheon of illustrators. A relentless connoisseur of life, he drew with a child's eye and wrote with the shrewd wit of an adult. He knew everyone worth knowing, went everywhere worth visiting, all the while recording what he saw on the backs of menus, envelopes, or on the inside covers of matchbooks. His resume was a checkerboard: hotelier, restaurateur, cartoonist, ad man, theatrical designer, novelist, screenwriter, interior decorator, journalist, and children's book author. What made Bemelmans such a creative powerhouse He confessed, "My greatest inspiration is a low bank balance." His best-remembered work, of course, is the series of picture books starring that beguiling schoolgirl, Madeline. "I like to write for children because I suffer from a sort of arrested development. I am about six years old really," Bemelmans said, "and I am constantly surprised by everything." He knew that the Madeline books were his lasting legacy, yet it surely would have surprised him to find that they have sold upwards of ten million copies, and that the thriving Madeline merchandise empire now encompasses DVDs, dolls, board games, backpacks, tea sets, and stickers. Bemelmans' world ranged from yachts and limousines to garrets and subways, and was peopled with moppets, jewel thieves, Ecuadorian Generals, and feather boa-clad vamps. His drawing style, humorous and reductive, captures all this in a flash. "I sketch with facility and speed," he wrote. "The drawing has to sit on the paper as if you smacked a spoon of whipped cream on a plate." Born in Meran, Austria, and bred in Tyrolean hotels, Bemelmans came to the States at 16 and landed at the Ritz-Carlton. There he learned "to press a duck, open a bottle, and push a chair under a lady." While working his way from busboy to banquet manager, he drew, often using William Randolph Hearst's empty suite as his studio. The Ritz staff and clientele provided him with a rich menu of subjects, and he returned again and again to hotel life for inspiration. He first set his heart on becoming a cartoonist. His earliest effort, The Thrilling Adventures of Count Bric A Brac (1926), ran for six months, but his big break happened when May Massee of Viking Press came to dinner. Admiring the scenes Bemelmans had painted on the blinds, Massee announced: "You must write children's books!" Hansi (1934), a reminiscence of his childhood, was quickly followed by three more: The Golden Basket (1936), The Castle Number 9 (1937), and Quito Express (1938). Bemelmans met and married Madeleine (Mimi) Freund in 1934. The two honeymooned in Belgium, which provided the setting for The Golden Basket, his Newbery-Honor winner. Not many realize that Madeline makes her debut in this book. Madeleine, spelled like his wife's name here, is one of 12 little girls shepherded by a tall nun through the streets of Bruges. In 1938, Bemelmans, Mimi, and their two-year-old Barbara traveled to France. On the recommendation of Georges, his underworld friend, Bemelmans visited the Ile d'Yeu off the coast of France. Here came more inspiration for Madeline when he was knocked off his bike by a truck. He had to walk to the hospital, where, in the next room, he wrote, "was a little girl who had had her appendix out, and on the ceiling over my bed was a crack that, in the varying light of morning, night and noon, and evening, looked like a rabbit." He went on: "I remembered the stories my mother had told me of life in the convent school at Altotting, and the little girl, the hospital, the room, the crank on the bed, the nurse, the doctor, all fell into place. I made the first sketches on a sidewalk table...
Category

Mid-20th Century Ludwig Bemelmans Art

Materials

Paper, Ink

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Previously Available Items
Waiter Dancing and Strutting on a Ship, Possible Madeline sighting
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Miami, FL
As usual, Bemelmans delivers a charming moment. We see a happy-go-lucky waiter balancing a tray of food high above his head. He struts and dances down a ship's hallway as on-lookers ...
Category

1950s Modern Ludwig Bemelmans Art

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Ink, Watercolor

Dogs Hounds Foxhunt. Pheasant, Duck, Black Bird, Owl Squirrel Crane Porcupine
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Miami, FL
Animals everywhere except the fox. Hounds Searching. Pheasant, Duck, Black Bird, Owl, Squirrel, Crane, Porcupine, Butterfly, Bees, Turtle, Snake, Dragonfly , Ants , Spider, Bugs,...
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1960s Ludwig Bemelmans Art

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Gouache, Watercolor

Portrait of a Girl with Pears
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Ludwig Bemelmans, Austrian/American (1898 - 1962) Title: Portrait of a Girl with Pears Year: circa 1950 Medium: Silkscreen, Signed in pencil Edition: Epreuve d'Artiste Size: ...
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Screen

Portrait of a Girl with Pears
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Ludwig Bemelmans, Austrian/American (1898 - 1962) Title: Portrait of a Girl with Pears Year: circa 1950 Medium: Silkscreen, Signed in pencil Edition: EA Size: 30 x 21 in. (7...
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1950s American Impressionist Ludwig Bemelmans Art

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Lithograph

Brooklyn Bridge
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Ludwig Bemelmans, Austrian/American (1898 - 1962) Title: Brooklyn Bridge Year: 1950 Medium: Lithograph, Signed in pencil Edition: EA Image: 21 x 16 inches Size: 30 x 21 in. ...
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1950s American Modern Ludwig Bemelmans Art

Materials

Lithograph

Ludwig Bemelmans, "The House of Van Gogh, " Gouache on Paper, circa 1955
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Long Island City, NY
This original gouache painting was created by Austrian / American artist Ludwig Bemelmans. On the back of the painting, it reads, "The house of Van Gogh in Arles...
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1950s Impressionist Ludwig Bemelmans Art

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Rare "The Tales of Hoffman" Opera Plate
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Surfside, FL
These are extremely scarce plates designed By Ludwig Bemelmans for Castleton China Co. in the early 1940s they are very rare and almost impossible to f...
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Modern Ludwig Bemelmans Art

Rare "La Bohème" Opera Plate
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Surfside, FL
These are extremely scarce plates designed By Ludwig Bemelmans for Castleton China Co. in the early 1940s they are very rare and almost impossible to f...
Category

1940s Modern Ludwig Bemelmans Art

Lohengrin
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Surfside, FL
These are extremely scarce plates designed By Ludwig Bemelmans for Castleton China Co. in the early 1940s they are very rare and almost impossible to f...
Category

Ludwig Bemelmans Art

Rare Pagliacci Opera Plate
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Surfside, FL
These are extremely scarce plates designed By Ludwig Bemelmans for Castleton China Co. in the early 1940s they are very rare and almost impossible to f...
Category

1940s Modern Ludwig Bemelmans Art

Isle D'Yeau, Harbour Scene, France
By Ludwig Bemelmans, 1898-1962
Located in Surfside, FL
A charming harbour scene on the coast of France. this depicts boays at harbour with a mermaid with a flag. this is from a pencil signed and numbered limited edition.29X22 inches actual image. this is a vintage piece. Ludwig Bemelmans (April 27, 1898 – October 1, 1962) was an Austria-Hungary-born American writer and author and illustrator of children's books and an internationally known gourmet. He is known best for the Madeline picture books. Six were published from 1939 to 1961; a seventh was discovered after his death and published posthumously in 1999. Bemelmans was born to the Belgian painter Lambert Bemelmans and the German Frances Fischer in Meran, Austria-Hungary (now Italy). His father owned a hotel. He grew up in Gmunden on the Traunsee in Upper Austria. His first language was French and his second German. In 1904, his father left the family for Ludwig's governess, after which his mother took Ludwig and his brother to her native city of Regensburg, Germany. Bemelmans had difficulty in school, as he hated the German style of discipline. He was apprenticed to his uncle Hans Bemelmans at a hotel in Austria, where he reportedly shot and seriously wounded a waiter. Given the choice between reform school and emigration to the United States, he chose the latter. He spent the next several years working at hotels and restaurants in the US. In 1917, he joined the U.S. Army but was not sent to Europe because of his German origin. He did become an officer, and was promoted to Second Lieutenant. He writes of his experiences in the Army in the book, My War With the United States. In 1918, he became a US citizen. In the 1920s, Bemelemans tried to become an artist and painter while working at hotels, but had substantial difficulties. His cartoon series The Thrilling Adventures of the Count Bric a Brac was dropped from the New York World after six months. He associated with Ervine Metzl, a commercial artist and illustrator who is variously described as Bemelmans' friend, "agent" and "ghost artist". Bemelmans is said to have met his future wife, Madeleine "Mimi" Freund, as a model in Metzl's studio. They had one daughter, Barbara, and three grandchildren, Paul Marciano, James Marciano and John Marciano. In the early 1930s Bemelmans met May Massee, the children's book editor at Viking Press, who became a sort of partner. He began to publish children's books, beginning with Hansi in 1934. He published the first Madeline book in 1939; after being rejected by Viking, it was published by Simon and Schuster. Along with William Steig, Maurice Sendak and Laurent de Brunhoff he is one of the most popular children's book authors and illustrators in the world. In 1953, he fell in love with a small bistro in Paris, La Colombe in the Ile de la Cité, and bought it. He painted murals therein and owned the place for two years before selling it to Michel Valette, who converted it into a notable cabaret. Bemelmans also wrote a number of adult books, including travel and humorous works, as well as movie scripts...
Category

1940s Other Art Style Ludwig Bemelmans Art

Ludwig Bemelmans art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Ludwig Bemelmans art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Ludwig Bemelmans in ink, paint, board and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Ludwig Bemelmans art, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Paul Sample, Sybil Gibson, and George G. Adomeit. Ludwig Bemelmans art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $18,000 and tops out at $215,000, while the average work can sell for $50,000.

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