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The lasting appeal of picture book characters

Swiss picture book characters that have inspired generations of readers are in the spotlight again at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich.

A new exhibition External linkfeatures Lisa Wenger‘s Joggeli, Pitschi the kitten, who’s been popular for 70 years, the children from the Maggi song book, a teddy bear who sets off for Tripiti, and Globi, who started life as an advertising slogan and became a children’s story character.

Thanks to their illustrations, some Swiss artists became known outside their country, such as Ernst Kreidolf, Felix Hoffmann or Hans Fischer. Political caricaturist Hans-Ulrich Steger had a poke at Switzerland through the teddy bear he created. “Reise nach Tripiti” (“Journey to Tripiti”, 1967) was one of his most successful children’s books and has been translated into various languages, including Japanese. 

The interactive exhibition, which continues to mid-October, allows young visitors to hide under the bed and pull pears off trees, in reference to the century-old Joggeli story. Swiss Public Television SRF spoke to guest curator, Hans Ten Doornkaat, about the enduring appeal of these fictional favourites. 

(SRF/swissinfo.ch)

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR