Albertine
The H.C. Andersen awarded Swiss artist, author of the 2021 Illustrators Annual Cover.
A poetic universe able to enchant an audience well beyond any borders
On the work of Swiss illustrator Albertine, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award winner that the BCBF is honoured to welcome, the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) said, “Albertine creates books with multiple levels of interpretation, her drawings crafted with infinite precision, lively and full of humour”.
Following the tradition, winners of the H.C. Andersen Award and the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava Grand Prix are invited to design the cover of the Illustrators Annual on alternate years.
Albertine has illustrated more than forty children’s books, the majority of which have been translated into many languages, alongside a prolific artistic career, with her works exhibited in many museums, galleries and public spaces.
The exhibition Albertine has created for BCBF offers a fascinating peek into the varied stylistic approaches, explorations and experimentations that have won her international recognition.
In her cover illustration for the 2021 Illustrators Annual, the BCBF’s yearly publication that celebrates the Bologna Children’s Book Fair’s selected featured artists, Albertine was keen “to express a collective movement, a whole. A solidarity of people. A force. It is a sort of masquerade, a procession, a carnival. A family of characters that could have come out of a circus. Some of them look at us. They invite us to take part… We need to move forward, not to succumb.” (from her interview in the Illustrators Annual 2021).