Heinz Edelmann
A mind without limits
Heinz Edelmann (20 June 1934 – 21 July 2009) was a German illustrator and designer. He was born in Ústà nad Labem, Czechoslovakia, into the Czech-German family of Wilhelm and Josefa Edelmann. He was well known as an illustrator in Europe, but is probably most famous for his art direction and character designs for the 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine.
Edelmann studied printmaking at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Arts Academy) from 1953 to 1958. He began his career as a freelance illustrator and designer for theatre posters and advertising in Germany. Between 1961–1969 he was a regular illustrator and cover designer for the internationally renowned youth magazine twen. During 1967– 1968, he worked on Yellow Submarine.
Between 1968–1970 he was a partner in a small animation company in London, but his desire at the time to work on more feature films was not realised. In 1970 Edelmann moved to Amsterdam and designed book jackets and posters for plays and films. His last use of the style of Yellow Submarine was in illustrating a book, Andromedar SR1 (1970), about a voyage to Mars. He also designed the cover for a German edition of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and illustrated the Kenneth Grahame children’s book The Wind in the Willows.
From 1972–1976, Heinz Edelmann taught industrial graphic design at Fachhochschule Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences). After that he was Lecturer of Art and Design at Fachhochschule Köln (Cologne University of Applied Sciences) and in 1989 became Professor of Illustration at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart.
From 1972–1976, Heinz Edelmann taught industrial graphic design at Fachhochschule Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences). After that he was Lecturer of Art and Design at Fachhochschule Köln (Cologne University of Applied Sciences) and in 1989 became Professor of Illustration at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart.
Yellow Submarine is a 1968 British animated musical fantasy film based on the music of The Beatles. The film was directed by animation producer George Dunning, and produced by United Artists (UA) and King Features Syndicate. Initial press reports stated that the Beatles themselves would provide their own character voices, however, aside from composing and performing the songs, the real Beatles participated only in the closing scene of the film, while their cartoon counterparts were voiced by other actors. The film received a widely positive reception from critics and audiences alike. It is also credited with bringing more interest in animation as a serious art form.[citation needed] Time commented that it “turned into a smash hit, delighting adolescents and esthetes alike�
He designed the 1992 Seville World’s Fair mascot, Curro. He died from heart disease and renal failure in Stuttgart, aged 75. but has left us with a great and rich form of expression, a style and a way without limits and no boundaries, color, peace and expresive imagination.
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