Das GroBe Liederbuch [The Great Songbook]

“Illustrating a collection of popular songs: the idea had been simmering in my head for years. Professionally speaking, it was the biggest challenge I had ever set myself. I kept on putting it off for later (…). I was waiting for something like peace to descendme, I was waiting for creamy waves, radiant fog, a peaceful life”, says Tomi Ungerer.
Das grosse Liederbuch brings together 204 German traditional songs illustrated by Tomi Ungerer. Presented thematically, the book published in 1975 was illustrated in romantic fashion. The style is inspired by 19th century German painters as well as Gustave Doré and Hansi, and develops a very specific iconographic environment. The decorations that Tomi Ungerer imagined for his illustrations often depict buildings and cities in Alsace, either drawn from life or mixing real and imaginary features. Man in communion with nature is a central theme of romanticism, particularly dear to German painters like Caspar David Friedrich. In his illustrations for German songs, Tomi Ungerer takes up this theme while associating it with very different subjects and emphasising the omnipotence of nature over humanity.
Pencil and Indian ink sketches alternate with "finished" drawings with coloured ink washes, unfolding the artist’s creative processes. The variants of a single illustration show the drawings being "cleaned" and details being removed or added.