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Fred Marcellino
Fred Marcellino.jpg
Born (1939-10-25)October 25, 1939
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died July 12, 2001(2001-07-12) (aged 61)
New York City, New York, United States
Known for Book jacket design, children's book illustration

Fred Marcellino (born October 25, 1939 – died July 12, 2001) was an American artist. He started as an illustrator and later wrote children's books. He had a big impact on the book world.

A publisher named Nan Talese said that Fred could show the whole mood of a book with just one picture. This was true for his amazing painting for Judith Rossner's book August.

He also designed covers for many other famous books. These included Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities. He also worked on the 1987 Dell Laurel Leaf edition of Allen Appel's Time After Time.

Early Life and Art

Fred Marcellino was born in Brooklyn, New York. He first studied art as an abstract expressionist painter. In 1963, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Venice, Italy.

When he came back to the United States, he changed his focus. He became a designer and illustrator. He mainly created art for LP record covers. He designed albums for singers and groups like Loretta Lynn, Manhattan Transfer, and Fleetwood Mac. By 1969, he was making album covers for big companies like Capitol and Decca.

Amazing Book Covers

In 1974, Fred started working in the book publishing world. For 15 years, he designed about 40 book covers each year. Many people say he changed how book covers looked in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s.

He created memorable covers for books like Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. He also worked on Waltz in Marathon by Charles Dickinson and Birdy by William Wharton.

Most illustrators were given small notes about what to draw for a book cover. But Fred Marcellino insisted on reading the whole book. He wanted to understand the book's overall feeling. Then, he would create a thoughtful and beautiful illustration that showed the book's mood, often using symbols.

Art director Steven Heller described Fred's style. He said Fred's art gave authors a visual look that matched their words. Fred's unique style never took away from the writer's story. Instead, it added more meaning.

He also challenged the usual ways of designing covers for popular books. These often had huge author names and small, simple pictures. Fred introduced subtle, painted, and cleverly lettered mini-posters. These designs created a sense of mystery and attraction.

Fred was a master at drawing skies. Many of his book covers show rich, cloudy skies as backgrounds. He often used dramatic light sources for effect. He would draw the light of early morning or late afternoon in soft colors. This made everyday things like walls or chairs look special and meaningful.

Creating Books for Kids

In the mid-1980s, Fred began working on children's books. His first one was A Rat's Tale by Tor Seidler. He found it to be a very different experience from designing book covers.

He explained that each picture in a children's book is like a link in a chain. They all work together with the story. While each picture needs to be impactful, it can also be more subtle. People can look at it and enjoy it for a longer time. He said it was "love at first sight" when he started illustrating children's books.

His first full-color picture book was Charles Perrault's Puss in Boots. It won a Caldecott honor in 1991. He won more awards for books like The Steadfast Tin Soldier and The Wainscott Weasel. Other award-winning books included The Pelican Chorus and Other Nonsense and The Story of Little Babaji.

In 1999, he started writing his own books. His first book was I, Crocodile. It was honored by The New York Times as one of the Best Books of the Year. Publishers Weekly and Child magazine also named it a Best Book of the Year.

Fred Marcellino was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1998. He passed away on July 12, 2001. At the time of his death, he was working on a sequel to I, Crocodile, called Arrivederci, Crocodile. In 2016, it was announced that another illustrator, Eric Puybaret, would finish the book. It was published in 2019.

Exhibitions

Fred Marcellino's artwork has been shown in several exhibitions:

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