Jo Spier

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Jo Spier (26 June 1900- 21 May 1978) was a popular Dutch artist and illustrator. He was born Joseph Eduard Adolf Spier in Zutphen, The Netherlands. From 1924 to 1939, he worked for the newspaper De Telegraaf where he created humorous illustrations and cartoons about everyday life. During World War II his subject matter became more political and he was arrested for his satirical depiction of Hitler. He was first sent to the camp at Westerbork, then to Villa Bouchina with his family. On 21 April 1939 he was transferred to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he stayed until the end of the war.

After the war, it was rumored (erroneously) that he had collaborated with his captors. He moved to the United States in 1951 and continued to work until the end of his life. He died in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

His son, Peter Spier, is also a noted illustrator of children's books.

[edit] Bibliography

• Dat alles heeft mijn oog gezien. Herinneringen aan het concentratiekamp Theresienstadt 1942-1945, Elsevier, 1978.
• The Marshall Plan and You, The Hague, the Netherlands: Ministry of Economic Affairs, 1949.

[edit] Books illustrated by Jo Spier

• The Creation, text from Genesis, hand-lettered by Joseph P Ascherl, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1970.
• The Squirrel and the Harp, by David DeJong, New York: Macmillan, 1966.
• The Spice Cookbook, by Avanelle Day and Lillie Stuckey, David White Company, 1964
• Waters of the New World: Houston to Nantucket, by Jan de Hartog, New York: Atheneum, 1961.
• Peter Stuyvesant of Old New York, by Anna Crouse and Russel Crouse, New York: Random House, 1954.
• The Story of Louis Pasteur, by Alida Sims Malkus, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1952.
• One Sky to Share: The French and American Journals of Raymond Leopold Bruckberger, New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1952.
• Holland's House: a Nation Building a Home, by Peter Bricklayer, Haarlem, the Netherlands: Joh. Enschede En Zonen, 1939.
• Mijn Jordanertjes : kinderen, die ik gekend heb, by A van Vlaardingen, Utrecht: Bijleveld, 1931.