Keats, Ezra Jack
Keats, Ezra Jack (1916–83),celebrated American writer/illustrator of children's books. Largely a self‐taught painter with experience as a muralist (WPA), comic‐book illustrator, and camouflage designer, Keats is hailed not only for his artistic originality and innovation, principally his use of collage, but also for featuring children of colour as central characters. His most acclaimed text, The Snowy Day, 1963 Caldecott Medallist, which tells the story of a young child's experience with snow, is the first full‐colour picture book to feature a black child; the book has met with some controversy, for Keats was Caucasian. Of note in Keats's career is John Henry (1965), the tale of a larger‐than‐life African American railroad worker, ‘who died with his hammer in his hands’. The illustrations have been regarded as some of Keats's finest, particularly for their vibrancy, size, and consequent force. In evidence as...
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