Jean de Brunhoff

Jean de Brunhoff ( born December 9, 1899 in Paris, † October 16, 1937 in Montana, Valais Canton, Switzerland ) was a French children's book author who was known primarily through the figure of the elephant king Babar.

Life and work

Brunhoff was born the son of an art publisher. The family 's Swedish- Baltic origin. Unlike his brothers, who went into publishing, devoted himself to Jean de Brunhoff painting. He worked with Othon Friesz, in whose studio he met many artists. In 1924 he married the pianist Cécile Sabourad, a doctor's daughter, with whom he had three sons; Laurent ( born 1925 ), Mathieu ( b. 1926 ) and Thierry ( * 1935).

Cécile invented for their sons stories, including that of a little elephant who took refuge in the city from hunters. Jean de Brunhoff shaped the content of his first story of Babar, the elephant for his children from this material.

Jean de Brunhoff died in 1937 of tuberculosis. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. The work on the Babar stories was acquired by Brunhoffs son Laurent, who emigrated to the United States, from where he continued the series.

Works

• Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant, December 1931
• Le Voyage de Babar, October 1932
• Le Roi Babar, December 1933
• Les Vacances de Zéphir, December 1936
• A.B.C. de Babar, July 1934
• Babar en famille, April 1938
• Babar et le Père Noël, December 1941

Bibliography

• Nicholas Fox Weber: L'art de Babar: L' oeuvre de Jean Laurent de Brunhoff et. Nathan Image 1989.