Simms Taback

Simms Taback’s (1932–2011) irrepressible humor, love of folk art, and background in graphic design shine through in his lively and meticulously crafted compositions. Born in New York City, Taback was a prolific illustrator, writer, and graphic designer. He graduated from Cooper Union and later taught at the School of Visual Arts and Syracuse University. After serving in the U.S. Army, he worked as an art director at The New York Times and Columbia Records. Taback wrote and illustrated over 40 children’s books, many featuring new and retold tales from his Eastern European Jewish heritage, including the Caldecott Medal-winning Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (1999) and Kibitzers and Fools: Tales My Zayda Told Me (2005). His mixed-media collages display bold, bright colors, clever die-cut holes, and high attention to detail.

In 2014, to celebrate Taback’s gift of nearly 400 illustrations from his picture books, the Museum organized the exhibition Simms Taback: Art by Design.

Taback’s breakthrough in children’s books came with the publication of There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, for which he received a Caldecott Honor. He adapted the text from a traditional American song and employed ever larger die cut holes that expand with the Old Lady’s growing stomach. Scale and perspective are irrelevant in this absurdist tale.

Illustration of woman jumping in air with umbrella.

Illustration of different types of flies.

Illustration of man standing next to ship.

Illustration of man with luggage in rural scene.

Illustration of man in overcoat with duck.

Illustration of man in house with orange cat.

Among the many details in this scene from Taback’s Caldecott-winning book, he includes photographic collage portraits of the great Yiddish storyteller Sholem Aleichem and the Yiddish theater actress Molly Picon.

Taback not only illustrated books, but he also served as designer and typographer. He rejected realism to embrace a naïve approach, influenced by folk and outsider art: “I think about shape…I love flat wonderful shapes sitting in space.”

Illustration of houses along busy street.

Illustration of rabbi in room full of books.

Taback’s colorful cityscape matches his protagonist’s colorful imagination, a girl who dreams up creative ways to “mail” herself to the person she misses. With deliberate childlike simplicity, Taback includes a delightful array of details, playfully exploiting the voyeurism of urban living.

Illustration of girl in bed with books piled on top.

Taback’s colorful cityscape matches his protagonist’s colorful imagination, a girl who dreams up creative ways to “mail” herself to the person she misses. With deliberate childlike simplicity, Taback includes a delightful array of details, playfully exploiting the voyeurism of urban living.

Illustration of postcard with camp buildings.

Humor and hyperbole characterize Taback’s fictional series of letters between a father and his son, who is at sleep-away camp. Taback cleverly collaged actual U.S. postage stamps—one of a great gray owl and a saw whet owl—to lend authenticity to the correspondence.

Illustration of frog on front of postcard.

Illustration of front of postcard with cats and dogs.

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Simms Taback

Simms Taback