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Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
McSweeney's McMullens recently published—cause for celebration!—Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Eugene Ionesco and Etienne Delessert. (Get a copy from the publisher; Amazon.) The publisher explains: "Back in print for the first time since the 1970s, these illustrated stories by one of the twentieth century’s great playwrights make ideal bedtime reading for young children. The “silly” stories, as Ionesco called them, are accompanied by nearly 100 full-color illustrations. The art for Stories 1 & 2, first published in the 70s, was painstakingly restored by the artist. The art for stories 3 and 4 was newly made for this brand new "1234" compilation."
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Before getting to a short interview I did with Etienne Delessert (one of my favorite illustrators), I wanted to provide two fun sections from the book which I think could be published as stand-alone prose poems:
From Story #1"She had a mother who was named Mrs. Jacqueline. Her father was named Mr. Jacqueline. Little Jacqueline had two sisters who were both named Jacqueline, two boy cousins who were named Jacqueline, two girl cousins who were named Jacqueline, and an aunt and an uncle who were also named Jacqueline.
"The uncle and the aunt named Jacqueline had some friends named Mr. and Mrs. Jacqueline, who had a little girl named Jacqueline and a little boy named Jacqueline. The little girl had dolls, three dolls, named Jacqueline, Jacqueline, and Jacqueline."
From Story #2So Papa teaches Josette the real meaning of words. A chair is a window. The window is a fountain pen. A pillow is bread and bread is a bedside rug. Feet are ears, arms are feet. A head is a bottom. A bottom is a head. Eyes are fingers, fingers are eyes.
So Josette speaks the way her father teaches her. She says: "I look out the chair while eating my pillow, I open the wall, I walk with my ears. I have ten eyes to walk with and two fingers to look with. I put my head on the floor to sit down, I put my bottom on the ceiling. After eating the music box, I spread jam on the rug for a great dessert. Take the window, Papa, and draw me some pictures."
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Q & A with Etienne Delessert
50 Watts: Had you followed Ionesco's work before illustrating his children's stories? Were you surprised he had written children's stories?Delessert: I was born with Kafka, Beckett and Ionesco for friends. I remember seeing Waiting for Godot when I was 17: it not only changed my vision of theatre, it changed my way to tell a story.
Had you illustrated the original French-language editions?
Long saga: the original Stories 1 and 2 were initially published in 1968 and 1970 in New York, where I was living then, by a small, quirky publishing house headed by Harlin Quist.
Quist had a really original talent, and gave lots of freedom to the artists he had chosen. But he was also an eminent crook, and Eugène Ionesco and I decided not to work on the next two stories as we realized that we would never be paid. It took me 40 years to go back to his texts and finish the book. It was a great challenge to draw the same characters, to stage similar stories such a long time after completing the two first ones. But it worked!
It had been my own idea to ask to Quist to contact Ionesco in Paris. He had never written for children.
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Did you ever meet with Ionesco?We met after the first book came out, in New York. I remember going with him to see a doctor (he hated flying and needed pills to sleep on the plane) the day before he went back to France. From 42nd street to East 75th street we saw that day three cars burning, at three different locations: he was terrorized...
Later I met him several times at his place near La Coupole (in Story 3, I show part of his apartment). Years later he spent 10 days in Switzerland with me to prepare a long interview on film. Any reference to his plays would have been presented in animation. The film, produced by the Gallimard publishing house, was not completed. [Ed. note: Damn.]
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Did you get to discuss your illustrations with Ionesco, either before or after publication? No discussion before the books were published; at first he was surprised by my interpretations, then he understood that we were on the same wave length. The two books were very well received in seven languages, and reprinted often. But we never saw any royalties.
Instead of cleaning his act, Quist prefered to break our contract and ask two French artists to illustrate the two remaining texts. These mediocre interpretations disappeared quickly. So the Gallimard and McSweeney's editions are, finally, offering the original vision of the authors. We have five coeditions to date, including a large one in China.
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
How was the project received by readers and critics when first published?
I was amazed, 40 years later, to see the difference in the way some people perceived the stories. Back then we heard questions about what a real children's book should be. Same concern as for the Wild Things of Sendak.
But these are simple stories that a father is inventing for his daughter. And Ionesco was a very talented father... It was home theater and his daughter Marie-France had some fine lines too.
Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, Etienne!
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Bio of the illustrator:
Etienne Delessert was born in 1941 in Switzerland, and now lives in Lakeville, Connecticut, with his wife Rita Marshall and their son Adrien.
For more than thirty years this self-taught artist has been translating his—and the world's—ideas, passions, fantasies and nightmares into the visual language of books, magazine illustrations, posters, animated films, paintings and sculptures. He reaches both children and adults with his imaginary creatures and landscapes, juxtaposing the familiar with the fantastic to clarify this world and create new and lasting universes.
Delessert has illustrated more than eighty books, some translated in 14 languages, with millions of copies sold worldwide. From his groundbreaking The Endless Party, created in the 60's, along with his influential collaborations with Eugene Ionesco (Contes 1, 2, 3, 4) in French, and Jean Piaget (How The Mouse...), to his more recent award-winning A Long Long Song, Ashes Ashes, Dance!, The Seven Dwarfs, Who Killed Cock Robin?, Humpty Dumpty, Big and Bad, Full Color, Moon Theater and Spartacus the Spider. He is considered as one of the fathers of modern children's picture books.
Twice he was honored by the Premio Grafico of the Bologna World Children's Book Fair. His illustrations have appeared in leading magazines and newspapers such as The Atlantic Monthly, Le Monde and The New York Times. His animated films include the adventures of the endearing Yok-Yok and creations for Sesame Street.
He is the recipient of thirteen gold and twelve silver medals of the American Society of Illustrators as well as the 1996 Hamilton King Award, and recently a finalist for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award.
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
![]()
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
For more details about the publication history of this book, see a longer interview with Delessert on We Too Were Children.
But first buy the book!
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
McSweeney's McMullens recently published—cause for celebration!—Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Eugene Ionesco and Etienne Delessert. (Get a copy from the publisher; Amazon.) The publisher explains: "Back in print for the first time since the 1970s, these illustrated stories by one of the twentieth century’s great playwrights make ideal bedtime reading for young children. The “silly” stories, as Ionesco called them, are accompanied by nearly 100 full-color illustrations. The art for Stories 1 & 2, first published in the 70s, was painstakingly restored by the artist. The art for stories 3 and 4 was newly made for this brand new "1234" compilation."
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Before getting to a short interview I did with Etienne Delessert (one of my favorite illustrators), I wanted to provide two fun sections from the book which I think could be published as stand-alone prose poems:
From Story #1"She had a mother who was named Mrs. Jacqueline. Her father was named Mr. Jacqueline. Little Jacqueline had two sisters who were both named Jacqueline, two boy cousins who were named Jacqueline, two girl cousins who were named Jacqueline, and an aunt and an uncle who were also named Jacqueline.
"The uncle and the aunt named Jacqueline had some friends named Mr. and Mrs. Jacqueline, who had a little girl named Jacqueline and a little boy named Jacqueline. The little girl had dolls, three dolls, named Jacqueline, Jacqueline, and Jacqueline."
From Story #2So Papa teaches Josette the real meaning of words. A chair is a window. The window is a fountain pen. A pillow is bread and bread is a bedside rug. Feet are ears, arms are feet. A head is a bottom. A bottom is a head. Eyes are fingers, fingers are eyes.
So Josette speaks the way her father teaches her. She says: "I look out the chair while eating my pillow, I open the wall, I walk with my ears. I have ten eyes to walk with and two fingers to look with. I put my head on the floor to sit down, I put my bottom on the ceiling. After eating the music box, I spread jam on the rug for a great dessert. Take the window, Papa, and draw me some pictures."
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Q & A with Etienne Delessert
50 Watts: Had you followed Ionesco's work before illustrating his children's stories? Were you surprised he had written children's stories?Delessert: I was born with Kafka, Beckett and Ionesco for friends. I remember seeing Waiting for Godot when I was 17: it not only changed my vision of theatre, it changed my way to tell a story.
Had you illustrated the original French-language editions?
Long saga: the original Stories 1 and 2 were initially published in 1968 and 1970 in New York, where I was living then, by a small, quirky publishing house headed by Harlin Quist.
Quist had a really original talent, and gave lots of freedom to the artists he had chosen. But he was also an eminent crook, and Eugène Ionesco and I decided not to work on the next two stories as we realized that we would never be paid. It took me 40 years to go back to his texts and finish the book. It was a great challenge to draw the same characters, to stage similar stories such a long time after completing the two first ones. But it worked!
It had been my own idea to ask to Quist to contact Ionesco in Paris. He had never written for children.
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Did you ever meet with Ionesco?We met after the first book came out, in New York. I remember going with him to see a doctor (he hated flying and needed pills to sleep on the plane) the day before he went back to France. From 42nd street to East 75th street we saw that day three cars burning, at three different locations: he was terrorized...
Later I met him several times at his place near La Coupole (in Story 3, I show part of his apartment). Years later he spent 10 days in Switzerland with me to prepare a long interview on film. Any reference to his plays would have been presented in animation. The film, produced by the Gallimard publishing house, was not completed. [Ed. note: Damn.]
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Did you get to discuss your illustrations with Ionesco, either before or after publication? No discussion before the books were published; at first he was surprised by my interpretations, then he understood that we were on the same wave length. The two books were very well received in seven languages, and reprinted often. But we never saw any royalties.
Instead of cleaning his act, Quist prefered to break our contract and ask two French artists to illustrate the two remaining texts. These mediocre interpretations disappeared quickly. So the Gallimard and McSweeney's editions are, finally, offering the original vision of the authors. We have five coeditions to date, including a large one in China.
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
How was the project received by readers and critics when first published?
I was amazed, 40 years later, to see the difference in the way some people perceived the stories. Back then we heard questions about what a real children's book should be. Same concern as for the Wild Things of Sendak.
But these are simple stories that a father is inventing for his daughter. And Ionesco was a very talented father... It was home theater and his daughter Marie-France had some fine lines too.
Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, Etienne!
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Bio of the illustrator:
Etienne Delessert was born in 1941 in Switzerland, and now lives in Lakeville, Connecticut, with his wife Rita Marshall and their son Adrien.
For more than thirty years this self-taught artist has been translating his—and the world's—ideas, passions, fantasies and nightmares into the visual language of books, magazine illustrations, posters, animated films, paintings and sculptures. He reaches both children and adults with his imaginary creatures and landscapes, juxtaposing the familiar with the fantastic to clarify this world and create new and lasting universes.
Delessert has illustrated more than eighty books, some translated in 14 languages, with millions of copies sold worldwide. From his groundbreaking The Endless Party, created in the 60's, along with his influential collaborations with Eugene Ionesco (Contes 1, 2, 3, 4) in French, and Jean Piaget (How The Mouse...), to his more recent award-winning A Long Long Song, Ashes Ashes, Dance!, The Seven Dwarfs, Who Killed Cock Robin?, Humpty Dumpty, Big and Bad, Full Color, Moon Theater and Spartacus the Spider. He is considered as one of the fathers of modern children's picture books.
Twice he was honored by the Premio Grafico of the Bologna World Children's Book Fair. His illustrations have appeared in leading magazines and newspapers such as The Atlantic Monthly, Le Monde and The New York Times. His animated films include the adventures of the endearing Yok-Yok and creations for Sesame Street.
He is the recipient of thirteen gold and twelve silver medals of the American Society of Illustrators as well as the 1996 Hamilton King Award, and recently a finalist for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
Etienne Delessert, illustration for Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Ionesco
For more details about the publication history of this book, see a longer interview with Delessert on We Too Were Children.
But first buy the book!