Christoph Niemann
Christoph Niemann (born 1970) is a German-American illustrator, graphic designer, and children's book author. Since July 2008, Niemann has been writing and illustrating The New York Times blog Abstract City, renamed Abstract Sunday in 2011, when the blog moved to The New York Times Magazine.
Christoph Niemann

Freimut Bahlo · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Christoph Niemann
- Born
- 1970
- Birthplace
- Waiblingen, West Germany
- Education
- State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart
- Nationality
- Germany
- Occupation
- illustrator · writer · artist · animator · designer · blogger
- Fields
- illustration · book illustration · literary activity · graphic design
- Languages
- English · German
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Documentary summary
Christoph Niemann (born 1970) is a German-American illustrator, graphic designer, and children's book author. Since July 2008, Niemann has been writing and illustrating The New York Times blog Abstract City, renamed Abstract Sunday in 2011, when the blog moved to The New York Times Magazine.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
gnd · 104773575X · wikidata · Q110841 · wikipedia · Christoph Niemann
In this article
Biography
Biography
Christoph Niemann studied at State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart. The recorded working language is English and German. The field of work recorded is illustration, book illustration and literary activity. Places of work recorded in the authority are New York City and Berlin.

Christoph Niemann in concert at Jazz We Can in Bad Marienberg (Westerwald) 2011
Freimut Bahlo

Jazzbassist Christoph Niemann bei einem Konzert mit Triologic im "Jazz We Can" in Bad Marienberg (Westerwald) am 7. August 2011
Freimut Bahlo
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Christoph Niemann • Born — 1970 • Birthplace — Waiblingen, West Germany • Education — State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart • Website — https: www.christophniemann.com/
Personal life
Personal life
He studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart under Heinz Edelmann. After finishing his studies in Germany in 1997, he moved to New York City. After 11 years in New York City, he moved to Berlin with his wife, Lisa, and their three sons.
Career
Career
Niemann is known for his Sunday Sketches, a weekly series of humorous drawings that play with scale and position. His compositions often take objects and turn them into something unexpected, for example a red pencil into a megaphone or a splayed book into a cat's whiskers. His work has appeared on the covers of The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine and American Illustration, and has won awards from AIGA, the Art Directors Club and American Illustration. Niemann is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. He has been a speaker at Design Indaba Conference twice, in 2006 and 2013. In 2010, he was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. In 2013, he launched his first interactive illustration at Design Indaba Conference in Cape Town, in the form of an iOS application called Petting Zoo by Christoph Niemann. On June 21, 2013, Google used two of his images to celebrate the 2013 summer and winter solstices as the Google Doodle of the day. Niemann was profiled in the first season of the Netflix docu-series, Abstract: The Art of Design. Niemann produced Traffic Pong in 2019, a video art piece that depicts a game of Pong superimposed over aerial footage of traffic over Paulista Avenue in São Paulo. The vehicles would interact with the ball and affect the game at large.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1970
Christoph Niemann was born in 1970 at Waiblingen.
Books
• (2000) Fresh Dialogue 1, New Voices in Graphic Design (with Nicholas Blechman, Paul Sahre and Paula Scher).. • (2005) 100% Evil (with Nicholas Blechman and Chip Kidd).. • (2007) The Police Cloud.. • (2007) The Boy with Two Belly Buttons (with Stephen J. Dubner).. • (2008) The Pet Dragon: A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters. • (2008) in German: Der kleine Drache.. • (2009) Windsbraut written by T.C.Boyle, illustrated by Christoph Niemann. • (2010) SUBWAY.. • (2010) I LEGO N.Y... • (2010) I LEGO N.Y. (German edition). • (2011) That's How.. • (2012) Abstract City. (English edition). • (2012) Abstract City - Mein Leben unterm Strich. (German edition). • (2012) Der Kartoffelkönig.. * * * * * *
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Christoph Niemann”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q110841: Christoph Niemann
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 104773575X, Exhibition Christoph Niemann at Galerie Max Hetzler (2013-2014 : Berlin).
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Awards and honors
• Design Awards Recipient, AIGA, 2003, 2005 • Certificate of Typographic Excellence, Type Directors Club (TDC New York), 2006 • Inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame, 2010
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 104773575X, Exhibition Christoph Niemann at Galerie Max Hetzler (2013-2014 : Berlin).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Christoph Niemann worked in illustration, book illustration, literary activity, graphic design and animation. He worked at New York City and Berlin.
Career and activity
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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