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Michèle Lemieux
This site's home page illustration is from The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Michèle Lemieux. It is used by permission of Kids Can Press Ltd., Toronto. Illustrations © Michèle Lemieux, 1993.
INTERVIEW WITH MICHÈLE LEMIEUX
BIOGRAPHY
SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Drawing Life… or Inner Enchantment: An Interview with Michèle Lemieux
By Daniel St-Hilaire
When or how did you develop a taste for drawing?
For as long as I can remember, I always drew and I never stopped drawing. I was lucky to have parents who always encouraged me, and who let me dream and draw my dreams. Very early on, I knew that my goal in life was to express myself, to capture life through creativity and drawings… I must say that I am as happy drawing today as when I was a child. My love of drawing has stood the test of time, accompanying me since childhood.
In addition to being an illustrator and an author, you also teach illustration at the Université du Québec à Montréal. In what way is teaching complementary to your creative work or vice versa?
Yes, it's true that the two activities complement each other; teaching is well integrated in my creative work, in this slow rhythm that producing a book demands. Teaching also offers me the chance to be able to talk about what fascinates me the most in the world - drawing. I'm also fascinated with being in contact with young artists who are discovering themselves and at the same time enriching my life with their universe and their imagination.
In Stormy Night, you drew a young girl who couldn't sleep and who lay awake wondering about the broad issues of existence. With regard to the things that matter most, do you first have to be able to abandon yourself to the truth and to simplicity with one pencil stroke?
Before becoming a book, Stormy Night was at first a sketchbook, a kind of intimate journal, a glance into the disorder of days, without a specific goal. I tried to capture the truth of life and its simplicity with my pencil. This book is a gift that I gave myself for my 40th birthday, which was a very special time in my life. It was also a time of questioning, a desire to reach the essential. That is why I insisted on keeping the spontaneity of the initial sketches, and to distance myself as much as possible from any aestheticism. This book is like a dialogue, an open door between our childhood world and the world of adults. I wanted to let the world be seen through the eyes of this young girl who wonders about a very simple experience: existence!
You have already said that Le Petit Prince was one of your favourite books. In what way did this book influence your work?
It is true that Le Petit Prince is a very important book for me, especially since it is close to life, to light. I love authentic books, in which the universe succeeds in joining children as well as adults. Le Petit Prince is one of those books that go beyond literature for youth, which questions existence, which deals with universal themes.
For the 2000 edition of Read Up On It, we chose the cover-page illustration of your book The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Can you comment on this illustration?
© 1993 Michèle Lemieux. Kids Can Press |
An illustration is, in and of itself, always difficult to comment on, especially when the illustration is on the cover page of a book. In publishing, the inside of the book belongs to the author; it is the author's territory, while the cover occupies another place involving many people. What was important for me was to remain faithful to the impression that reading this story gave me in my childhood. I wanted to restore the essence of this story by conserving the ambiguity and mystery surrounding the pied piper, without trying to impose my personal interpretation of the character.
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Biography
Michèle Lemieux lived abroad for several years before setting up shop in Montreal in order to proceed with her work. An internationally renowned artist, her canvases have been displayed in New York, Tokyo, Czechoslovakia, Germany, France, Italy and Canada. Her books have been published in many languages such as French, English and German. Her canvases, both diaphanous and bright, evoke a timeless, even mystical world, which seems to attract the reader to the heart of the narrative. Lemieux likes to experiment: watercolours, gouache, acrylic, oil, collage. Even before painting her first sketch, Lemieux conducts far-reaching research and a multitude of small studies. Before illustrating Amahl and the Night Visitors, she drew a herd of camels in every imaginable position by using reference works. This exercise allowed her to decide the exact position each camel would take in her sketches and her final illustrations. In addition to devoting herself to illustrating, she has been teaching drawing and illustration at the Université du Québec à Montréal's Department of Design since 1982.
Selective Bibliography
Amahl and the Night Visitors. Text by Gian Carlo Menotti; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1991.
64 p.: col. ill.; 28 cm.
ISBN 1550740431
Amahl et les visiteurs de la nuit. Text by Gian Carlo Menotti; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux; French text by Anne-Marie Chapouton. Paris: Centurion Jeunesse, 1986.
64 p.: col. ill.; 29 cm.
(French edition of Amahl and the Night Visitors)
ISBN: 2227706988
Le bal des chenilles: un conte. Text by Robert Soulières; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Montreal: Pierre Tisseyre, 1979.
22 p.: ill.; 28 cm.
ISBN 2890510166
La baleine fantastique: un conte. Text by Robert Soulières; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Montreal: Pierre Tisseyre, 1980.
21 p.: ill.; 28 cm.
ISBN 2890510182
Une bien mauvaise grippe: un conte. Text by Robert Soulières; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Montreal: Pierre Tisseyre, 1980.
21 p.: ill.; 28 cm.
ISBN 2890510166
Un cadeau de saint François: la première crèche. Text by Joanna Cole; translation by François Renaud; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Richmond Hill, Ont.: Scholastic Canada, 1990.
34 p.: col. ill.; 26 cm.
ISBN 0590737147
(French edition of A Gift from Saint Francis: The First Crèche)
Double espace. Text by Francine Sarrasin; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Laval: Les 400 coups, 1975.
105 p.: col. ill.; 19 cm.
ISBN 2921620626
A gift from Saint Francis: The First Crèche. Text by Joanna Cole; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1989.
32 p.: col. ill.; 26 cm.
ISBN 092110359X
Le joueur de flûte d'Hamelin. Written and illustrated by Michèle Lemieux; translation by Chantal de Fleurieu. Fribourg, Suisse: Calligram, 1996.
34 p.: col. ill.; 16 cm.
ISBN 2884453326
(Translation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin)
Magie d'hiver. Text by Eveline Hasler; translation by Christiane Duchesne; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Richmond Hill, Ont.: Scholastic Canada, 1990.
29 p.: col. ill.; 25 cm.
ISBN 0590735802
(French edition of the original German edition Im Winterland)
Nuit d'orage. Text and illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Paris: Seuil jeunesse, 1998.
238 p.: ill.; 15 x 22 cm.
ISBN 2020307596
(French edition of the original German edition Gewitternacht)
Peter and the Wolf: Story by Sergei Prokofiev. Text and illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1991.
31 p.: col. ill.; 24 x 27 cm.
ISBN 1550740113
The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Text and illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1993.
29 p.: col. ill.; 29 cm.
ISBN 1550741241
Quel est ce bruit? Text and illustrations by Michèle Lemieux; translation by Christiane Duchesne. Richmond Hill, Ont.: Scholastic Canada, 1990.
31 p.: coll. ill.; 25 cm.
ISBN 059073685X
(French edition of the original German edition Was hört der Bär?)
Les secrets de l'hiver. Text by Éveline Hasler; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux ; translation by Olivier de Vleeschouwer. Paris: Hachette Jeunesse, 1992.
32 p.: col. ill.; 27 cm.
ISBN 2010197194
(Translation of Im Winterland)
Stormy Night. Text and illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1999.
222 p.: ill.; 15 cm.
ISBN 1550746928
(English edition of the original German edition Gewitternacht)
There Was an Old Man...: A Collection of Limericks. Text by Edward Lear; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1994.
72 p.: col. ill.; 19 cm.
ISBN 1550742132
La vache et d'autres animaux. Créés par Ginette Anfousse… et al.; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux… et al. Montreal: Les éditions la courte échelle, 1982.
22 p.: col. ill.; 22 cm.
ISBN 2890210316
Voices on the Wind: Poems for All Seasons. Selected by David Booth; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1990.
41 p.: col. ill.; 28 cm.
ISBN 0921103794
Winter Magic. Text by Eveline Hasler; illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1989, c1984.
32 p.: col. ill.; 26 cm.
ISBN 0921103719
(English edition of the original German edition Im Winterland)
What's That Noise? Text and illustrations by Michèle Lemieux. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1989.
30 p.: col. ill.; 26 cm.
ISBN 0921103697
(Translation of Was hört der Bär)
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