Tribute Tuesday: Jan Pieńkowski

Jan Pienkowski is a Polish-British author and illustrator of children's books. He was born in 1936 and is now an 80 year old man living in the U.K. I stumbled across some of his work the other day and couldn't believe I'd never seen it before. 

I love black silhouettes as a general rule, and I can't believe the way he uses negative space to offer so much detail. His pieces feel lively and positive because of the watercolor washes and the way his silhouettes always seems to be in motion. I like the way his architecture feels steepled and sharp and tumbling all at once. His skies are always set in dusk or dawn and the fluidity contrasts against the tight lines in the illustrations. He's done a lot of fairytale illustrations, which are naturally my favorites. So! Let's take a peek:

 Had you ever heard of him? Do you like any piece in particular?