Burkert, Nancy Ekholm
Nancy Ekholm Burkert
Biography
Born in Sterling, Colorado in 1933, Burkert moved to Wisconsin with her family in 1945. She married Robert Burkert, a professor of Fine Art at UWM, and has two children, Claire and Rand.
In the introduction to The Art of Nancy Ekholm Burkert (Bantam, 1977), Michael Danoff, then curator of the Milwaukee Art Museum, states, “Burkert works in a tradition of artists for whom book illustration is one of the fine arts like painting or sculpture. Each of the drawings she makes is, in its own right, a fully realized work of art. Her drawings are not a secondary accompaniment to words, but a primary and integral part of the book experience in which she is an equal partner with the writer.” (Quoted in the Wisconsin Library Association Literary Awards, 1995.)
Burkert has won numerous awards for her illustrations, including the Caldecott, New York Times Notable Book, Boston Globe-Horn Book, and Wisconsin Library Association Wisconsin Notable Authors. In addition, the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art featured an exhibit of Burkert’s work in 2003.
Selected Work
Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs, Illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert
Title: Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs
Author: The Brothers Grimm, Translated by Randall Jarrell
Illustrator: Burkert, Nancy Ekholm
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Year: 1972
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Format: Paperback, 32 pages
ISBN: 0374468680; 978-0374468682
Dimensions: 30cm x 23cm
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest of us all?” repeatedly asks the Queen, Snow White’s stepmother. She always gets the answer she wants, until Snow White turns seven, and the mirror must truthfully answer, “Snow White.” At the news, the Queen turns yellow and green with envy and commands the huntsman to kill Snow White and bring her “lung and liver as a token.” Thus begins another enchanting fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm!
Kirkus Reviews called this collaboration between Randall and Nancy Eckholm Burkert “a sort of legend even before its time of publication.” (Description from Amazon.com.)
Other Works
James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl (1961)
The Nightingale, Hans Christian Andersen, tr. by Eva LeGallienne (1965)
The Scroobious Pip, Edward Lear and Ogden Nash,(1968)
The Fir Tree, Hans Christian Andersen (1970)
Acts of Light, Emily Dickinson (1980)
Valentine and Orson (1970)
More Information
Wikipedia page for Nancy Ekholm Burkert
Wisconsin Children's Authors & Illustrators 
February 24, 2011 at 7:30 pm |
As a freshman at Denison University in Granville, Ohio I had the great pleasure of having Nancy Ekholm Burkert as my drawing instructor. The following year, at her recommendation, I transfered to the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Together with John Wilde at the art department in Madison, Nancy was the best art instructor I ever had. I will always rremember her and her husband Robert as they were in 1955, and am pleased to keep that young beautiful image in my memory. I am the proud owner of all her books and have shared them with my three children. It is a pleasure to imagine that she has used her own children as models from time to time. I continued my studies at the Slade School of Art, University of London and became a scientific illustrator. I believe that without her initial training, I never would have developed this direction as a career. If possible, please forward this email to her. With all my gratitude and best wishes, Janet Wilkins MacKenzie
August 13, 2011 at 9:36 pm |
You have been truly blessed to have both Ms. Ekholm Burkert and John Wilde as teachers.
April 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm |
[…] of the illustrations) i found a copy of james and the giant peach by roald dahl and illustrated by nancy ekholm burkert – a bantam skylark edition from 1978. i love james and the giant peach! i love the […]
January 24, 2012 at 12:46 pm |
[…] Weekly named Mouse & Lion one of the best picture books of 2011. Nancy Ekholm Burkert won a 1973 Caldecott Honor for Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs. Her other honors include a show of […]
June 19, 2012 at 11:48 pm |
[…] of the illustrations) i found a copy of james and the giant peach by roald dahl and illustrated by nancy ekholm burkert – a bantam skylark edition from 1978. i love james and the giant peach! i love the […]
August 5, 2012 at 2:18 am |
I came across 4 large prints done by Sunshine Publications, Inc. in 1976 from The Scroobious Pip by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. Do they have any value and/or should I donate them to a local school or library?
August 6, 2012 at 6:36 am |
I have no idea of their value, but if they are in good shape, you might see if a local school or library is interested.