{{Short description|American artist and choreographer (1929–2012)}} {{Infobox person | name = Remy Charlip | image = RemyCharlip.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date|1929|01|10}} | birth_place = New York City, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|08|14|1929|01|10}} | death_place = San Francisco, California, US | education = Cooper Union, Black Mountain College }} '''Abraham Remy Charlip''' (January 10, 1929&nbsp;– August 14, 2012) was an American artist, writer, choreographer, theatre director, theatrical designer, and teacher. He wrote or illustrated more than 40 children's books.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://bostonreview.net/arts-society/judith-levine-remy-charlips-postmodernism-kids|title=Remy Charlip's Postmodernism for Kids|last=Levine|first=Judith|date=2020-02-24|website=Boston Review|language=en|access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref>

==Life and career==

Charlip was raised in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn by Lithuanian Jewish parents.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.remycharlipestate.org/about|title=About Remy|website=The Remy Charlip Estate|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref>

He studied textile design at Straubenmuller Textile High School in Manhattan, and fine arts at Cooper Union in New York, graduating in 1949. In 1951, he began attending Black Mountain College in North Carolina at the encouragement of Lou Harrison, arriving on Thanksgiving 1951 together with composer David Tudor and writer and potter M.C. Richards.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sfaq.us/2012/08/remy-charlip-the-art-of-being-an-artist/|title=Remy Charlip: The Art of Being an Artist|last=SFAQ Editorial Staff|date=|website=SFAQ / NYAQ / LXAQ|language=en-US|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref> At Black Mountain College, he collaborated with composer John Cage, participated in ''Theatre Piece No. 1,'' and became a founding member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, for which he also designed sets and costumes.<ref name=":1" /> He remained a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for 11 years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Dancer-author-Remy-Charlip-dies-3797310.php|title=Dancer, author Remy Charlip dies|last=Ulrich|first=Allan|date=2012-08-18|website=SFGate|access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref> He also met others with whom he would later collaborate, including Robert Rauschenberg, Nicholas Cernovich, and Vera Baker Williams.<ref name=":0" />

In the 1960s Charlip created a unique form of choreography, which he called "Air Mail Dances." He would send a set of drawings to a dance company, and the dancers would then order the positions and create transitions and context, without Charlip's further participation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.remycharlipestate.org/air-mail-dances|title=Air Mail Dances|website=The Remy Charlip Estate|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref>

He directed plays for the Judson Poets Theatre, co-founded the Paper Bag Players children's theater company, and served as head of the Children's Theater and Literature Department at Sarah Lawrence College. Off-Broadway, he was the "Stage Director" of a 1962 production of Bertolt Brecht's ''Man Is Man'' for Julian Beck's Living Theatre, for which he received his first of two Obie Awards,<ref>[http://www.lortel.org/lla_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=4272 "Man is Man"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021235042/http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=4272 |date=2012-10-21 }} on the IOBDB</ref> and designed the set for the American Place Theatre production of Paul Goodman's ''Jonah'' in 1966.<ref>[http://www.lortel.org/lla_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=3940 "Jonah"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070913082920/http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=3940 |date=2007-09-13 }} on the IOBDB</ref>

As a children's book illustrator and author, he became known for his unique use of line and color, fanciful prose, and postmodern use of narrative sequence and continuity.<ref name=":0" /> He won three ''New York Times'' Best Illustrated Book of the Year citations, and was awarded a six-month residency in Kyoto, Japan from the Japan/U.S. Commission on the Arts.

Charlip was the model for illustrations of Georges Méliès in the book ''The Invention of Hugo Cabret'', written and illustrated by Brian Selznick.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/about_remy.htm |title=About Remy Charlip |author=Selznick, Brian |work=The Invention of Hugo Cabaret|accessdate=2011-11-23}}</ref>

He moved to San Francisco in 1989, and worked with local arts groups, including the Oakland Ballet. Towards the end of his life, Charlip was living as openly gay.<ref name=":0" /> He died in San Francisco in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|title=Classified Death Notice|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=159206667#fbLoggedOut|work=The New York Times|accessdate=16 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title = Birthdays of Children's Authors and Illustrators |work = On-Lion for Kids |publisher = New York Public Library |url = http://kids.nypl.org/reading/childrensauthorbirthdays.cfm |accessdate = 2011-11-23 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20111107110447/http://kids.nypl.org/reading/childrensauthorbirthdays.cfm |archivedate = 2011-11-07 }} </ref><ref>Palevsky, Stacey. [http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/39416/not-even-a-stroke-can-halt-prolific-s.f.-childrens-book-artist/ "Drawing inspiration: Not even a stroke can halt prolific S.F. children's book artist"] ''JWeekly.com'' (July 30, 2009)</ref>

==Choreography== * ''Meditation'' (solo, 1966) * ''A Week's Notice'' (duet, 1977)<ref name=siegel38>Siegel, Marcia B. ''The Tail of the Dragon: New Dance, 1976-1982'' Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1991. pp.38-40</ref> * ''Art of the Dance'' (solo, 1977)<ref name=siegel38 /> * ''Travel Sketches'' (solo, 1977)<ref name=siegel38 /> * ''Glow Worm'' (quartet, 1977)<ref name=siegel38 /> * ''Dance in Bed'' (solo) * ''April'' (Judson Dance Theatre)<ref name=mcd98>McDonagh, Don. ''The Rise and Fall and Rise of Modern Dance'' New York:Outerbridge & Dienstfrey, 1970. p.98</ref> * ''December'' (Judson Dance Theatre)<ref name=mcd98 />

==Children's books== *1956 ''Dress Up and Let's Have a Party.'' Scott. *1957 ''Where is Everybody?.'' Scott. *1957 ''It Looks Like Snow'' Greenwillow, reprint 2000, ''On Dirait Qu'il Neige'' *1962 ''The Tree Angel'' Knopf. *1964 ''Fortunately''. Parents Magazine Press. Reprinted by Scholastic Book Services in 1969 with the Title What Good Luck! What Bad Luck! *1966 ''Mother, Mother, I Feel Sick, Send for the Doctor, Quick, Quick, Quick''. Four Winds Press *1969 ''Arm in Arm (A Collection of Connections, Endless Tales, Reiterations, and other Echolalia)''. {{ISBN|0-590-07758-9}}. *1973 ''Harlequin and the Gift of Many Colors''. *1975 ''Thirteen'', with Jerry Joyner. Four Winds Press/MacMillan Publishing *1987 ''Handtalk Birthday'' Four Winds Press *1999 ''Peanut Butter Party''. Tricycle Press. *1999 ''Sleepytime Rhyme''. Tricycle Press. Greenwillow Books. {{ISBN|0-688-16271-1}} *2000 ''Why I Will Never Ever Ever Ever Have Enough Time to Read This Book.'' Tricycle Press. *2007 ''A Perfect Day''. Greenwillow Books. {{ISBN|978-0-06-051972-8}}.

==References== '''Notes''' {{Reflist}}

'''Sources''' *[https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/970623/charlip.html "Young at Heart: A Celebration of Remy Charlip"] in the Library of Congress ''LC Information Bulletin'', June 23, 1997 *[http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3ARemy+Charlip&qt=hot_author Remy Charlip at WorldCat.org]

==External links== {{Portal|Children's literature}} * {{official website|http://www.remycharlipestate.org}} – The Remy Charlip Estate *[http://www.paperbagplayers.org/ The Paper Bag Players], co-founded by Charlip *{{IMDb name|id=1158634}} * {{LCAuth|n80063049|Remy Charlip|44|}} *[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/12/pushing-envelope Review of ''Air Mail Dances''] by ''The New Yorker Magazine''

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Charlip, Remy}} Category:1929 births Category:2012 deaths Category:American male writers Category:American choreographers Category:American children's book illustrators Category:Cooper Union alumni Category:Artists from San Francisco Category:Writers from San Francisco Category:Artists from New York City Category:Writers from New York City Category:20th-century American writers Category:21st-century American writers Category:Black Mountain College alumni Category:American gay artists