Claude Ponti


Claude Ponticelli, known as Claude Ponti, was born on November 22, 1948, in Lunéville. He is a children's author and illustrator. His books are known for lush visual design and illustrations, alongside imaginative and poetic stories, showcasing Claude Ponti's skills as an iconic and complete artist, with a unique and distinctive universe. Some of his recurring characters, such as Blaise the masked chicklet, have acquired relative fame in their own right, in the world of french children's literature.

Early life

Claude Ponti was born as the middle of three boys, between his older brother Alain, and younger brother Michel. His father was a “chrono-analyst”, and his mother was a teacher. He had fond recollections of kindergarten, with a teacher trained on the method, to encourage drawing in students, and the teacher's husband setting up other fun activities. At six years old, Claude Ponti was raped by his maternal grandfather, a World War 1 veteran. Traumatised, he only opened up years later, at 25 years old. His parents refused to believe him, and kicked him out of the house. At eight years old, his family moved to the Vosges countryside, where Claude Ponti got to also enjoy nature and farm animals. He is left-handed, and mildly dyslexic.
Having got his diploma in 1967, Claude Ponti then attended a Fine Arts school in Aix-en-Provence. Later, he also studied literature and archaeology in Strasbourg, before eventually moving to Paris.
He worked for the French paper L'Express, from 1968 to 1984, first as a courier, then as a newspaper cartoonist. During that time, he painted and displayed his works at a gallery in Paris, from 1972 to 1978. Also, he gave some illustrations to the children literature editor. In the early 1980's, he was the artistic director of the Imagerie of Épinal.

Career

The birth of his daughter, Adèle, in 1985, was the trigger for his career as children's author. At first, his works were only for his child, but after Gallimard editor Geneviève Brisac saw his boards, Adele's Album got instantly published in 1986. Brisac later went on to be a publisher for, where Ponti followed her, and where nearly all of his books have been published, from that point onward. Adèle Ponticelli has since become a podcast producer for Le Monde, and continues to play active roles in her father's work, with the two hosting a fiction podcast for the Arte Radio podcast network.
Many illustrators, including Claude Ponti in 2000 and 2001, created original artwork for Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman's Little Lit children's book anthology. Mouly and Spiegelman's Toon Books have published some of Ponti's work, starting in 2012. That same year, Ponti and Spiegelman, along with Lorenzo Mattotti, drew a six-handed lithographe illustration together, at the Salon du livre.
In 2009, with some friends, Ponti created Le Muz , an online virtual museum and voluntary association, which displays children's works from across the world, as well as aids and announces many real-life events revolving around child art, and projects by Claude Ponti and other artists, educators, psychologists and researchers. Le Muz's mission statement is “To valorise the creativity of children and their works, as well as collect and broadcast them” and that “Children's works should be visible, preserved, valued, accessible to everyone, children and adults, anytime and anywhere in the world”. As of 2025, Le Muz has over eighty people listed as having helped contribute to its founding and/or continued development, and its site hosts nearly 5000 artworks by children.
While known more for children's books, Claude Ponti has also written for adult audiences. His first adult-readers novel, Les Pieds-Bleus, is about a rural boy named Hercule, in the 1960's, who is harassed, physically and sexually abused, but nonetheless enjoys playing, running wild, and being full of imagination.
In a 2014 article for Libération, Ponti criticised Jean-François Copé, then-president of the center-right UMP political party, for Copé's remarks against Claire Franek's children's book Tous à Poil!'', on nakedness and human bodies. Copé said that reading it made his blood stop flowing, that UMP leaders had to say “enough!”, and wrongfully-claimed the book was part of official recommended teaching aids for primary education teachers. Ponti said “Criticising a children's book without understanding it is dumb”, and added that this insulted the adult family members and librarians who read and understood the books, and who chose to give them to children in their family or library.
The Institut Français' November 2015 South Ken Kids Festival, in London, hosted a drawing panel with both Claude Ponti and Tony Ross, around the topic of Alice in Wonderland during the book's 150th anniversary.
Ponti illustrated the inside of the 2022 album Consolation for singer Pomme, who had been a huge fan of Ponti from her childhood, and whose mushroom hat, worn for the album's cover, references the author's work.
A couple of Claude Ponti's earliest children's books, are credited as written by Mona Ponti, and illustrated by Claude.

Works

Writing

Claude Ponti creates stories which are articulated like dreams, often with a touch of humour.
He frequently invents new words, inspired by kids. He also plays with the language, by use of subtle and poetic puns. Hence, the content is both for kids and adults, especially in his last few works.
Puns contribute to the writing dynamic, and characters are created through associating ideas. The whole book, story and images, is a base to imagine and create new psychological interpretations. Besides, a lot of books tells the adventure of characters who live initiatory journeys.
Ponti says the following on his own books :
“ My stories are like tales, always in the fantasy, they talk about the ' inside life ' and childhood feelings, so each child can put what he wants into the images : dreams and characters of his own. ”

Illustration

In Ponti's albums, text is tied to images. The gorgeous illustrations are full-blown elements, symbolic and independent. The attentive reader can discover details, easter eggs, hidden messages, or facts not mentioned in the text.
As for technique, tools and materials, Ponti switches between a mixture of watercolor, gouache and China ink, occasionally using photocopying, collages or a light table, for scenery and elements frequently reused throughout a book, or for changing the size of an element.

Inspirations

Claude Ponti is notably inspired by Lewis Carroll's wacky universe, and introduces references to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass in his own books.
Furthermore, children's imagination inspired him, their ideas, their wishes, to create appreciated books :
“ When my daughter had a dream or a nightmare, the next day, I asked her to tell me about it, I was taking notes then I went to my office, and I worked. ”

Legacy

According to Anne Dupin, co-editor-in-chief of the CRDP's Argos magazine, speaking for the CRDP of Créteil in 2007:
Claude Ponti is to my mind a vital author in the whole children’s production, including the abundant creativity and the fanciful graphic nearly brings kids infatuation. His universe, with these multiple artistic and cultural references, themes and a languages proper to the childhood, his originality through forms, colors, typography, or pagination, brings narrative content that suits to the children’s emotional, and their expectations. They can find a new knowledge or word, which let them choose easily their destinies.

Catherine Renaud from Uppsala University, published a thesis on Claude Ponti's work in 2008, titled Les ‘ ''incroyabilicieux ’ mondes de Ponti – Une étude du double lectorat dans l’œuvre de Claude Ponti. The study focuses on reading and analysing Ponti's books as an adult, from the books aimed squarely at children to Ponti's more mature works, and the recurring themes across both.
Ponti was interviewed in 2019, for a documentary on himself, titled Claude Ponti, un art de l'enfance, by Thierry Kubler and Stéphanie Molez.
In 2025, Claude Ponti received the SGDL's Grand Prix pour l'Œuvre'', for the entirety of his works.

International

Nowadays, Claude Ponti's albums are translated into 13 languages, including English, Spanish, German, Greek and Swedish. Russian publishing houses are starting to pay attention to the author, while Chinese and Korean people are nearly fanatical concerning him. His 1992 book, L'Arbre Sans Fin, was published by Bir for South Korea in 2001, with Korean translation by Jung-im Yoon.
According to Isabelle Darthy, who was the author's publisher in 1990:
“Claude Ponti is a headache for his translators. Even in French, plenty of things are missed; the reader must read a second or a third time to understand. The albums aimed to the international public need pretty good translations, because Claude Ponti's puns and expressions are complex, and often subtle. Translating those books required very experienced translators, and even fans of the author.”
Claude Ponti's books have also hit the USA market, via the not-for-profit publisher Archipelago Books, starting with My Valley in 2017, translated by Alyson Waters.

Awards

  • 1988: Prix Sorcières Toddlers category, for Adèle s’en mêle
  • 1992: Prix Sorcières First Readings category, for Broutille
  • 1994: Chrétien de Troyes Award for Okilélé
  • 1997: Prix Sorcières Toddlers category, for Sur la branche
  • 2000: IBBY “Honour List”, Illustration category, for Ma vallée
  • 2000: for Sur l'île des Zertes
  • 2006: A Prix Sorcières award for all his works.
  • 2008: Selection for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, Illustration category
  • 2022: Selection for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
  • 2023: Selection for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
  • 2025: SGDL's Grand Prix pour l'Œuvre, for all his works.