Louis Slobodkin

American sculptor

Louis Slobodkin (February 19, 1903 – May 8, 1975) was an American sculptor, writer, and illustrator of numerous children's books.

Slobodkin was born on February 19, 1903, in Albany, New York. He attended the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York City from 1918 to 1923. He worked as an elevator operator, a dishwasher, and factory worker. Slobodkin married Florence Gershkowitz, a poet and children's book writer in 1927. They had two children, Lawrence and Michael. He died of heart failure at his home in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida on May 8, 1975.

Teaching himself all manner of art from an early age, Slobodkin began to sculpt art at the age of ten. During the early 1930s he served as an assistant to Malvina Hoffman while she was creating the sculptures that would constitute the exhibition The Races of Mankind at the Field Museum of Natural History. In 1938 his statue "Abraham Lincoln, Rail Fence Mender" was displayed at the 1939–1940 World's Fair. When Slobodkin went to see it with his wife, the statue had been removed. Varying excuses were given as to why, including that it was too large for the space and casting shadows, and that a woman was offended by the sight of it. Fair Commissioner Edward J. Flynn eventually confirmed that the statue had been destroyed. Slobodkin waged a press campaign which resulted in him being given a new commission to recast the statue in bronze. The new version was placed in the Headquarters Building of the Department of the Interior in Washington, DC, and a second bronze cast is in Lincoln, Nebraska, funded partially by the Sheldon Museum and partially by a community "Pennies for Lincoln" fundraising campaign. Slobodkin did not immediately become involved with children's literature. He illustrated his first children's book in 1941, The Moffats, by his friend, Eleanor Estes, with whom he collaborated on five more books. In 1944, he won the Caldecott Medal for illustrating Many Moons, written by James Thurber. He wrote and illustrated the popular book series The Space Ship Under the Apple Tree. He was also the author of Sculpture; Principles and Practice. During his career, Slobodkin illustrated nearly 90 books, 50 of which he also wrote. He collaborated with his wife on five books from 1958 to 1969, including The Cowboy Twins (1960). Slobodkin's last book was Wilbur The Warrior, published in 1972.

Fo'castle Waltz (1945) – novel for adults, an illustrated account of Slobodkin's short career as a sailor aboard the tramp boat S. S. Hermanita.