Tomi Ungerer: Incognito

Tomi Ungerer is often said to have influenced everyone – as illustrator, storyteller, author, sculptor, builder, butcher and activist. Now aged 85, the ‘sharpest line in the West’, as he has been called, continues to share his acid commentaries with the world. But who exactly is Tomi Ungerer? We know him as a children’s book illustrator, provocative graphic artist and sharp author, while his erotic illustrations have polarized public opinion. Less known is his work as an artist; yet the assemblages, collages and sculptures have been an integral part of his oeuvre since he began working back in the 1950s. Our exhibition recognizes this important area of Ungerer’s work for the first time, entirely in keeping with the artist’s own dictum: ‘Expect the unexpected!’

This exhibition is a collaboration with the Museum Folkwang in Essen.