Dick Bruna

Back in the Netherlands he attended the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam but soon quit; he said afterwards that he had no talent as a painter and could not draw perspective. In 1955, while on family holiday, he saw a rabbit hopping around and later made attempts to draw it, thereby creating "Nijntje" ("Miffy" in English), the way a Dutch child might say the diminutive konijntje ('little rabbit'). Bruna illustrated over 2,000 covers and over 100 posters for the family business, A.W. Bruna & Zoon. But when the Amsterdam company Art Unlimited decided to publish Poster & Postcards following Roby Bellemans's traveling international exhibitions with Dutch and other children book illustrators, Dick Bruna approached Roby about this collaboration and decided to let Art Unlimited publish his “Nijntje” cards. His most recognized illustrations were for the Zwarte Beertjes (English: little black bears) series of books, including The Saint, James Bond, Simenon, and Shakespeare. He has said that the Japanese character Hello Kitty was copied from Miffy. In 2014, Bruna announced his retirement, after which the rights to the Miffy character were not to be sold. In March 2016 he was awarded the Max Velthuijs-prijs. Bruna died of natural causes in his sleep in Utrecht on 16 February 2017 at the age of 89.

Dick Bruna's father, A. W. Bruna, directed the family-owned publishing company Bruna, with his brother Henk Bruna. His father's intentions were for Bruna to follow in his footsteps, but Bruna had different plans and wanted to be an artist. He traveled to London and lived for a while in Paris, where he fell under the influence of Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, and especially Henri Matisse. Back in the Netherlands he attended the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam but soon quit; he said afterwards that he had no talent as a painter and could not draw perspective. In 1955, while on family holiday, he saw a rabbit hopping around and later made attempts to draw it, thereby creating "Nijntje" ("Miffy" in English), the way a Dutch child might say the diminutive konijntje ('little rabbit'). Bruna illustrated over 2,000 covers and over 100 posters for the family business, A.W. Bruna & Zoon. But when the Amsterdam company Art Unlimited decided to publish Poster & Postcards following Roby Bellemans's traveling international exhibitions with Dutch and other children book illustrators, Dick Bruna approached Roby about this collaboration and decided to let Art Unlimited publish his “Nijntje” cards. His most recognized illustrations were for the Zwarte Beertjes (English: little black bears) series of books, including The Saint, James Bond, Simenon, and Shakespeare. He has said that the Japanese character Hello Kitty was copied from Miffy. In 2014, Bruna announced his retirement, after which the rights to the Miffy character were not to be sold. In March 2016 he was awarded the Max Velthuijs-prijs. Bruna died of natural causes in his sleep in Utrecht on 16 February 2017 at the age of 89.

Petit Glam Issue no. 3- Paradise in Pictograms Issue. Petit Glam. 1998. ISBN 4-7713-0329-0. Jansen, Bert (1998). Dick Bruna boekomslagen. Centraal Museum. ISBN 90-73285-71-2. Widdershoven, Thomas; Thomas Widdershoven; Gert Staal (1998). boris en de paraplu. Centraal Museum. ISBN 90-73285-74-7. Yanagimoto, Koichi, ed. (2004). Zwarte Beertjes- Book Cover Designs by Dick Bruna. Glyph. Linders, Joke; Joke Linders; Koosje Sierman; Ivo de Wijs; Truusje Vrooland-Löb (2006). Dick Bruna (English ed.). Waanders Publisher, Zwolle/Mercis Publishing, Amsterdam. ISBN 90-400-8342-8. Reitsma, Ella; Ella Reisma (1989). Kees Nieuwenhuijzen (ed.). Het paradijs in Pictogram (Paradise in Pictograms). Mercis Publishing, Amsterdam. Kohnstamm, Dolph (1991). The eye demands an eye- Reflections about the children's books by Dick Bruna (English ed.). Mercis Publishing, Amsterdam. ISBN 90-73991-03-X. ディック・ブルーナ (2005). ディック・ブルーナ ぼくのこと、ミッフィーのこと (単行本). Kodansha publishers, Ltd. 講談社. ISBN 4-06-212826-8. All About Dick Bruna ディック・ブルーナのすべて (単行本). Kodansha publishers, Ltd. 講談社. 1999–2002. ISBN 4-06-208962-9.