An exhibition by 55 Irish illustrators, celebrating the life and work of the internationally renowned illustrator and writer Tomi Ungerer, will be opened by Aria Ungerer at the dlr LexIcon library in Dún Laoghaire Co Dublin on 3 August at 6 pm.

Born in Strasbourg, Tomi Ungerer lived in many places in his lifetime, but it was mostly in Ireland that he spent his final decades. That makes him an honorary Irishman, and indeed he was welcomed by Illustrators Ireland in 2018 as the first – and only – honorary member of that organisation. ‘In Memory of the Future’ is a phrase that Tomi Ungerer liked to use. This exhibition in memory of him also looks to the future with the work of living illustrators. Each exhibitor – all members of Illustrators Ireland – has selected a work by Ungerer and has created a response to or interpretation of it.

The exhibition will run until 30 September 2023, and supporting events will be held at the Alliance Française in Dublin:

Wednesday 13 September: talks by Linda Curtin (awarded the inaugural Tomi Ungerer Residency, Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris) and Anna Sailer, curator of the Tomi Ungerer Museum in Strasbourg, followed by a screening of the animation Flix, based on a Tomi Ungerer children’s book

Thursday 14 September: a lecture by Dr Emer O’Sullivan of Leuphana University in Germany, followed by a screenings of Moon Man, based on Ungerer’s classic book.

For more information contact Mags Suggs of Illustrators Ireland and IBBY Ireland: margaretanne@gmail.com. 

Illustrators Ireland thanks dlr LexIcon, the Alliance Française Dublin, the French Embassy in Ireland, the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris, IBBY Ireland and the Ungerer family for their support.