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Gyo Fujikawa (November 3, 1908– November 26, 1998) was an American illustrator and children's book author. A prolific creator of more than 50 books for children, her work is regularly in reprint and has been translated into 17 languages and published in 22 countries. Her most popular books, ''Babies'' and ''Baby Animals'', have sold over 1.7 million copies in the U.S.〔(Publishers Weekly ) URL accessed 23 April 2007.〕 Fujikawa is recognized for being the earliest mainstream illustrator of picture books to include children of many races in her work, before it became common to do so.〔 (''Gyo Fujikawa, a Children's Illustrator Forging the Way'', Dr. Andrea Wyman. Versed, Sept. 2005. ) URL accessed 21 July 2009.〕〔(Penguin Group Diversity. ) URL accessed 23 April 2007.〕〔(Ask Art:Gyo Fujikawa. ) URL accessed 23 April 2007.〕 == Biography == Gyo Fujikawa was born in Berkeley, California, to Japanese parents, Hikozō and Yūko Fujikawa (藤川幽子).〔 The masculine name, Gyo ''(pronounced "ghee-o")'', is after a Chinese emperor her father admired. Gyo Fujikawa moved to Los Angeles to attend Chouinard Art Institute in 1926, having received a scholarship, and befriended Japanese dancer Michio Ito and many fellow Nisei writers and artists. After graduating and spending a year in Japan, she was on the Chouinard faculty from 1933-37.〔〔"Gyo Fujikawa." ''St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th ed.'' (St. James Press, 1999).〕 She worked for the Walt Disney Company in California as a promotional artist, before moving to New York in 1941. Because she was living in New York at the time, she was able to avoid the incarceration West Coast Japanese were subject to, although her family spent the war in the concentration camp at Rohwer, Arkansas.〔 From 1943-51 she worked for pharmaceutical advertising agency William Douglas McAdams. In 1951 Fujikawa became a full-time freelancer, producing a dozen front-cover illustrations for ''Children's Digest'' and other periodicals, and about five years later was approached by juvenile editor Debra Dorfman at Grosset & Dunlap to illustrate Robert Louis Stevenson's ''"A Child's Garden of Verses"''. This was her first published children's book, in 1957. ''Babies'', the first book both written and illustrated by Fujikawa in 1963, was also one of the earliest children's books to use multi-racial characters, a consistent feature across her body of work. Fujikawa's books have been reprinted for mass-market and published worldwide. Her most popular books, ''Babies'', ''Baby Animals'', ''A to Z Picture Book'' and ''Oh!, What A Busy Day!'', unfailingly represent a happy, detailed version of childhood. Her joyous illustrations remain sweet and nostalgic, without ever becoming overly saccharine. Her paintings of children are recognizable for round happy faces, rosy cheeks and simple dot eyes. Discussing her respect for her audience, she said:
Fujikawa died on November 26, 1998, in New York Hospital. Although she had been engaged at the age of 19, she never married.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gyo Fujikawa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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