2015

9 x 7 1/2 in

watercolor on paper

Peter Sís is an internationally acclaimed illustrator, author, and filmmaker. He was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, and attended the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague and the Royal College of Art in London. Sís’s books, Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei, Tibet Through the Red Box, and The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain were each named Caldecott Honor Books by the American Library Association, and The Wall also was awarded the Robert F. Sibert Medal for the most distinguished informational book for young readers. In addition, he has had eight books named to the New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year list, was the first children’s book illustrator to win the MacArthur Fellowship, and in 2012 won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for lifelong achievement, the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children’s books. Sís also was chosen to deliver the 2012 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture for the Association for Library Service to Children. In recent years, Peter Sís has created iconic mosaics and posters for the New York Subway system, and has collaborated with Art for Amnesty, Amnesty International’s global artist program, on a series of monumental tapestries and murals created in support of human rights and in memory of some of the outstanding leaders of recent times. These tapestries are on permanent loan at various airport and museum locations around the world, such as the American Civil Rights Museum and Ellis Island, and are sponsored by U2 artists Bono and The Edge with musician Sting, formerly of The Police. Peter lives in Irvington, New York.