Hilary Knight (illustrator) facts for kids

Hilary Knight (born November 1, 1926) is an American writer and artist. He has illustrated over 50 books and written nine of his own. He is most famous for illustrating and helping create the Eloise books, starting in 1955.

Hilary Knight has created art for many different things. He has drawn for magazines, children's clothing ads, greeting cards, and even posters and album covers for Broadway musicals. Some of these musicals include Gypsy and No, No, Nanette. He owns the rights to more than 100 of his artworks in the U.S.

Early Life and Art Career

Hilary Knight was born in Hempstead, New York, on Long Island. His parents, Clayton Knight and Katharine Sturges Dodge, were both artists and writers. His father drew pictures for aviation books, and his mother was a fashion and book illustrator.

When Hilary was six, his family moved to Manhattan. He went to the City and Country School and then Friends Seminary for high school. After school, he studied art with famous artists like George Grosz. He also worked as a ship painter in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946.

After the Navy, he worked as a designer for a theater for one summer. Then, he went back to New York to study interior design. He also learned architectural drafting. He started painting murals in homes and drawing for magazines like Mademoiselle in 1952. He also drew for House & Garden and Gourmet.

Creating Books

In 1954, Hilary Knight met Kay Thompson, a popular singer and actress. In 1955, they worked together to create the unique black, white, and pink look of the Eloise books. Knight said that the character of Eloise was inspired by a painting his mother, Katherine Sturges Dodge, made in the 1930s.

After the first Eloise book, three more followed: Eloise in Paris (1957), Eloise at Christmastime (1958), and Eloise in Moscow (1959). Thompson and Knight also worked on another book called Eloise Takes a Bawth. However, in the mid-1960s, Kay Thompson decided to stop printing the Eloise sequels and did not allow Eloise Takes a Bawth to be published. She felt the books were for adults, not just children.

Eloise Takes a Bawth was finally published in 2002. For the first time in the Eloise series, Hilary Knight both illustrated and wrote one of the books, called The 365 Days of Eloise.

Knight also illustrated three of the four Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books by Betty McDonald. He also drew for magazines like Good Housekeeping and the children's magazine Cricket. He has illustrated many other children's books, including A Child's Book of Natural History.

His 1964 book, Where's Wallace?, was about an orangutan who kept escaping from the zoo. Readers had to find Wallace in detailed pictures of places like a circus or a museum. This book was made more than 20 years before the popular Where's Waldo? books.

Another charming book he illustrated is The Algonquin Cat. It tells the story of a real cat that lives in the famous Algonquin Hotel in New York City.

Broadway Posters

Hilary Knight started creating posters for Broadway shows in 1965. He was hired by producer Harry Rigby for the musical Half a Sixpence. Rigby once said he couldn't imagine doing a musical without Hilary.

Knight created poster artwork for many famous shows, including:

• No, No, Nanette (1971)
• Good News (1974)
• Gypsy (1974)
• I Love My Wife (1977)
• Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978)
• Mame (1983)
• Meet Me in St. Louis (1989)

Art Galleries

Hilary Knight has lived in an apartment in midtown Manhattan for many years. This apartment also serves as his art studio and library. He collects books, sheet music, and recordings there. His artwork is shown in two galleries: the Giraffics Gallery in East Hampton, New York, and Every Picture Tells a Story in Santa Monica, California.

In Other Media

In 2015, a documentary film called It's Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise was released by HBO. This film, made by Lena Dunham, tells the story of Knight's work on the Eloise books and his life.

Books Written by Knight

Works Illustrated by Knight

• The Circus Is Coming, 1947
• Jeremiah Octopus (by Margaret Stone Zilboorg), 1962
• Angels and Berries and Candy Canes, 1963
• Christmas Stocking Story, 1963
• Firefly in a Fir Tree, 1963
• Christmas in a Nutshell Library, 1963
• The Night Before Christmas, 1963
• Where's Wallace?, 1964
• When I Have A Little Girl, 1965
• When I Have A Little Boy, 1967
• Matt's Mitt, 1976
• That Makes Me Mad, 1976
• Hilary Knight's Cinderella, 1978
• The Circus is Coming, 1978
• The Algonquin Cat, 1980
• The Twelve Days of Christmas, 1981
• ’’Telephone Time: A First Book of Telephone Do’s and Don’t’s’’, 1986
• The Best Little Monkeys in the World, 1987
• Side by Side: Poems To Read Together (verse compilation), 1988
• The Beauty and the Beast, 1990
• Sunday Morning, 1992
• Happy Birthday (verse compilation), 1993
• The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Treasury, 1995
• When I Have A Little Girl/When I Have A Little Boy, 2000
• Eloise Takes a Bawth, 2002
• A Christmas Stocking Story, 2003
• Eloise: The Absolutely Essential, 2005
• Hilary Knight: Drawn from Life, 2018
• Olive & Oliver: The Formative Years, 2019

Gallery of Artwork

See also

In Spanish: Hilary Knight (ilustrador) para niños