Ted van Lieshout

Biography

Ted van Lieshout (b. 1955) studied at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and worked as a designer before moving on to writing and illustrating children’s books. His work is in a constant state of flux; he is always looking for new styles and techniques in both words and pictures. His stories for children, collected in De allerliefste jongen van de hele wereld (The Dearest Boy in all the World, 1988) and Ik ben een held (I Am a Hero, 1991) are characterised by a melancholy humour. Mijn botjes zijn bekleed met deftig vel (My Bones Are Clothed with Classy Skin, Silver Slate Pencil 1987) and Multiple Noise (1992), his collections of poetry for children, are dominated by the search for security and identity. Critics and panels of experts are virtually unanimous in their enthusiasm for his books. Van Lieshout has won many prizes, including the Gouden Griffel for his poetry collection Begin een torentje van niks. In 1998, his book Stilleven was published, his first title in which he laid out his vision of artworks and styles, and which may be read as a forerunner of the Paper Museums.

Titles

Child To Let

(Kind te huur, 1989)

Kind te huur (‘Child To Let’) demonstrates Ted van Lieshout’s original perspective. Pipet is a post-modern, no-nonsense girl who wants to get rich. She gets annoyed by her parents’ half-baked ideas about conquering the world with a three stringed violin or fortune-telling. Pipet prefers a businesslike approach. She sends her parents off on a world tour, puts on a two-piece woman’s suit and rents herself out to parents who don’t have any children. Continued...

I Am A Hero

(Ik ben een held, 1990)

In the three stories of Ik ben een held the son is always smarter than his father. He takes on the monster Boneyboo, Bareghost and a fish that turns out to be a shark, each of them symbolizing various kinds of fear; fear of bones, of ghosts and of fish that might turn into monsters. Continued...

Majlent

(Majlent, 1991)

In Majlent a number of problems which young people often suffer from are brought together. Joeri (‘Yuri’) is a boy who feels that he should have been a girl, because becoming a mother seems ideal to him. That’s why he chooses another name, Majlent. Continued...

Bros.

(Gebr., 1996)

Bros. was once frequently seen at the end of names of companies headed by brothers. Van Lieshout uses the abbreviation to indicate a breach in the relationship between two brothers and the premature end of a young life.

Luuk is sixteen when he takes over his dead brother’s diary. He doesn’t feel easy about violating Marius’s privacy but it is the only way he can save the diary from the bonfire his mother is about to start of his brother’s stuff. Continued...

The Paper Museum 3 - The Angel with Two Noses

(Papieren museum 3 - De engel met twee neuzen, 2007)

Children and art – if they don’t make a connection, then it’s certainly not the fault of Ted van Lieshout. Writer, poet and illustrator wrapped into one, he has also become known in recent years as an art ambassador for children. In Papieren Museum 3 – De engel met twee neuzen, which he designed himself, he assumes the role of Director of the Paper Museum. The covers of the book are the walls of Van Lieshout’s museum, the pages are the galleries, where you can wander to your heart’s content, and get lost amongst the works of art that he has brought together with so much care. Continued...