This elegantly designed and lavishly illustrated book showcases Bemelmans’ art and writing and illuminates the relationship between the man and his work. Bemelmans’ fascinating life story is told through letters, photographs, illustrations, paintings, sketches, and excerpts from both his published writings and his private journals, selected by his grandson, John Bemelmans Marciano.

Although Ludwig Bemelmans is best known for his Madeline books, his creative life ex-tended far beyond the “old house in Paris.” He was a novelist and a non-fiction writer, as well as a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Vogue, Holiday, and Town and Country.  He painted murals at the Carlyle Hotel, in the bar that bears his name, and planned to collaborate on a book with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Late in his life, Bemelmans decided to pursue his lifelong desire to paint with oils, and the stunning results are showcased here.

Throughout his life he was a celebrated bon vivant who experienced a rich variety of places, personalities, and professions.  Little wonder that Print Magazine found his biography “richly colored with a sense of  Bemelmans’s joie de vivre”.