wolf erlbruch
There were days when the duck noticed something strange.
- Who are you? Why are you creeping along behind me?
- Good. You’ve finally noticed me. I am Death.
The duck was scared stiff. You could hardly blame her for that.
- You’ve come to fetch me?
- I have watched you since you were born… just in case.
The start to storyteller and illustrator Wolf Erlbruch’s Ente, Tod und Tulpe (duck death and the tulip) is the perfect introduction to the special universe of this German author. He is capable of writing such a beautiful and profound book on the subject of death in only a few pages and drawings. Wolf Erlbruch was born in Wuppertalen in 1949. He worked as an illustrator for Esquire and Stern magazines in 1985 until he decided, against the grain career-wise, to accept a commission for a children’s book. Storytelling has been main priority ever since. He has used different drawing techniques in his work and can be safely considered as a master illustrator. What really lies behind this affirmation is not that he has received awards time and time again throughout his career nor that he is a professor of illustration at the university in his home town, but because nowadays he is easily one of the most copied artists in Europe, and you know what they about copying being the highest form of flattery.
For the first time one night, the duck felt cold.
- I'm cold... Could you warm me up a little?
One of the characteristics of Wolf Erlbruch’s style is how he reflects adult themes in books for children. Amongst those themes, death is awarded a special place and is reoccurring throughout his work. He looks at death from different perspectives and apart from the book that concerns us here, duck death and the tulip, collections like Ein Himmel fur den kleinen baren ("A heaven for the little bear"), or Ratten, death also takes centre stage. This last book, almost certainly his crudest, most radical and beautiful one, based on a poem by Gottfried Benn, tells the tragic story of rats who are born and grow inside the body of a dead girl, drawn in quick nervous dashes in an old dirty notebook recovered from a dump. He does this because Erlbruch always comes up with a different take on his illustrating for each story he’s involved in. He seems to have no intention of creating new styles or characters. All these different techniques; in color, in black and White, collage, watercolour … they are always all means to a definite end. This coherence between the illustration and the story is the main characteristic of Wolf Erlbruch’s style. That and the aforementioned choice of themes and approach. His texts hide no cheap metaphors or meaningless whine. There is no excess baggage in his stories but that does not mean he skimps on aesthetics and beauty; because Wolf Erlbruch’s drawings and words are beautiful, very beautiful, and that is because beauty itself is not an objective but an ingredient of reasoning and deeper emotion.
Death stroked her ruffled feathers into place, lifted her body and placed it gently in the river, watching as she drifted off into the distance. For a long time he watched her. When she was lost to sight, he was almost a little moved. But that’s life, thought Death.
There were days when the duck noticed something strange.
- Who are you? Why are you creeping along behind me?
- Good. You’ve finally noticed me. I am Death.
The duck was scared stiff. You could hardly blame her for that.
- You’ve come to fetch me?
- I have watched you since you were born… just in case.
The start to storyteller and illustrator Wolf Erlbruch’s Ente, Tod und Tulpe (duck death and the tulip) is the perfect introduction to the special universe of this German author. He is capable of writing such a beautiful and profound book on the subject of death in only a few pages and drawings. Wolf Erlbruch was born in Wuppertalen in 1949. He worked as an illustrator for Esquire and Stern magazines in 1985 until he decided, against the grain career-wise, to accept a commission for a children’s book. Storytelling has been main priority ever since. He has used different drawing techniques in his work and can be safely considered as a master illustrator. What really lies behind this affirmation is not that he has received awards time and time again throughout his career nor that he is a professor of illustration at the university in his home town, but because nowadays he is easily one of the most copied artists in Europe, and you know what they about copying being the highest form of flattery.
For the first time one night, the duck felt cold.
- I'm cold... Could you warm me up a little?
One of the characteristics of Wolf Erlbruch’s style is how he reflects adult themes in books for children. Amongst those themes, death is awarded a special place and is reoccurring throughout his work. He looks at death from different perspectives and apart from the book that concerns us here, duck death and the tulip, collections like Ein Himmel fur den kleinen baren ("A heaven for the little bear"), or Ratten, death also takes centre stage. This last book, almost certainly his crudest, most radical and beautiful one, based on a poem by Gottfried Benn, tells the tragic story of rats who are born and grow inside the body of a dead girl, drawn in quick nervous dashes in an old dirty notebook recovered from a dump. He does this because Erlbruch always comes up with a different take on his illustrating for each story he’s involved in. He seems to have no intention of creating new styles or characters. All these different techniques; in color, in black and White, collage, watercolour … they are always all means to a definite end. This coherence between the illustration and the story is the main characteristic of Wolf Erlbruch’s style. That and the aforementioned choice of themes and approach. His texts hide no cheap metaphors or meaningless whine. There is no excess baggage in his stories but that does not mean he skimps on aesthetics and beauty; because Wolf Erlbruch’s drawings and words are beautiful, very beautiful, and that is because beauty itself is not an objective but an ingredient of reasoning and deeper emotion.
Death stroked her ruffled feathers into place, lifted her body and placed it gently in the river, watching as she drifted off into the distance. For a long time he watched her. When she was lost to sight, he was almost a little moved. But that’s life, thought Death.
