The World of William Steig - Tapa dura

Welcome to the world of William Steig, a place where "Small Fry" stand on street corners and New York's hoi-polloi rub shoulders with the hoity-toity. Where Roland the minstrel pig and Dominic the piccolo-playing dog wander the land, singing their ballads. Where "People Are No Damn Good, " but children "walk with God." Where poetry rules and time does not pass.William Steig, the dean of "The New Yorker" cartoonists, began his career at the magazine in 1930. After achieving acclaim with his gang of street urchins, affectionately nicknamed the "Small Fry, " Steig branched out, exploring through his drawings the psychological undercurrents in relationships between parent and child, husband and wife, self and society. In such groundbreaking collections as "About People" (1939), "Persistent Faces" (1945), and "The Agony in the Kindergarten" (1950), Steig laid bare the raw insecurities of childhood. In the process, he introduced symbolic art to mainstream audiences and permanently elevated the place of the cartoon in American culture. Beginning in the '60s, Steig demonstrated his understanding and awe of children in numerous award-winning picture books, including such classics as: "Rotten Island" (1969), "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" (1970 Caldecott Medal), "Dominic" (1972), "Gorky Rises" (1980), "Doctor De Soto" (1982 Newbery Award), and "Shrek!" (1990). Now 90 years old, Steig continues to express his comic perception of the human plight. His 30th book for children, "Pete's a Pizza," was published this year. Featuring hundreds of illustrations, including a portfolio of previously unpublished pieces selected by the artist himself, "The World of William Steig" celebratesthe lifework of an uncompromising iconoclast who has never lost sight of the power of humor.

Before anyone else worried about what goes on inside our heads and put them in cartoons, there was Steig. From The Lovely Ones to The Agony in the Kindergarten, his art has been a lesson to me. -- Jules Feiffer

"With his very first picture book, Roland the Minstrel Pig, published thirty years ago, Bill Steig forever changed the landscape of children's books. Steig's infectious delight in rich, subtle storytelling, combined with a graphic style both simple and simply hilarious, has produced a body of work that remains astonishingly fresh and original. There is no school of Bill Steig. There is only Bill Steig." -- Maurice Sendak

"William Steig's wonderful work meshes together his lyrical drawing style, his inspired use of color, his sense of humor, and, most important, his insight into the human condition. He is a true master." -- Roz Chast