Hardie Gramatky
Hardie Gramatky was an influential American artist and author, best known for his beloved children's book series featuring the character Little Toot, a charming tugboat. Born on April 12, 1907, in Dallas, Texas, and raised in Los Angeles, Gramatky pursued art education at Stanford University and Chouinard Art School. His diverse career began in animation at Disney Studios before transitioning to illustration and reporting for Fortune magazine, where he captured scenes from floods and serene landscapes. Gramatky's passion for sketching boats led to the creation of Little Toot, which took three years to find a publisher but ultimately became a sensation, spawning further books and adaptations, including a Disney movie.
Throughout his career, Gramatky became known for his watercolor paintings, earning recognition in prestigious museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago. Additionally, he was a vocal advocate for gifted children, addressing their unique needs in schools and libraries. His last work, Little Toot Through the Golden Gate, was published in 1975. Gramatky's legacy endures through his stories that continue to resonate with children and families in the United States and abroad, highlighting the charm of everyday adventures. He passed away on April 29, 1979, in Westport, Connecticut.
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Subject Terms
Hardie Gramatky
Author
- Born: April 12, 1907
- Birthplace: Dallas, Texas
- Died: April 29, 1979
- Place of death: Westport, Connecticut
Biography
Hardie Gramatky was born on April 12, 1907, in Dallas, Texas, but he grew up in Los Angeles, California. His parents were Bernhard August Gramatky and Blanche Gunner Gramatky. He studied art for two years at Stanford University and spent two years at the Chouinard Art School, and he often went with friends on days-long driving trips to sketch and paint.
Gramatky supported himself as a bank clerk, a logger, a laborer on a freighter, and a ghost-writer for a comic strip before finding a job in 1930 as head animator for Disney Studios, where he was responsible for the depiction of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters. In 1932 he married Dorothea Cooke. The couple had one daughter, Linda Anne. After six years with Disney, Gramatky moved with his family to New York City. He became an artist and reporter for Fortune magazine, where his work included watercolor representations of Mississippifloods and tranquil Bahamas scenes.
Gramatky maintained a studio in New York City just off Wall Street, and he could see boats on the East River from his windows. One tugboat in particular attracted his attention, and he created several sketches and watercolor paintings of it. Eventually he turned those images into the children’s book Little Toot (1939), which he wrote and illustrated. Though it took Gramatky three years to find a publisher for Little Toot, the book became a sensation, and was made into a record album, a filmstrip, and a Disney movie. For years it was a tradition in Pasadena, California, to have a Little Toot float in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade. In later years, several more Little Toot books were published, as the tug visited England, Venice, the Mississippi River, and San Francisco.
During World War II, Gramatky worked in Hollywood supervising the making of training films for the Army. After the war, the family moved to Westport, Connecticut, and Gramatky became a full-time freelance artist and writer who created illustrations for most of the major magazines in New York, wrote children’s books, and worked on advertising accounts. Many of Gramatky’s other children’s books featured vehicles such as Loopy the plane, Hercules the fire engine, and Homer, a circus-train caboose. To find new machines and stories for his books, Gramatky drove around the United States, looking for the “true America.” In the 1950’s he became an active advocate for gifted and talented children, and he spoke at schools and libraries about these kids’ special needs. He also enjoyed speaking to groups of children.
The last book that Gramatky completed was Little Toot Through the Golden Gate (1975). He died on April 29, 1979, in Westport. For his watercolor paintings, Gramatky won several national and international awards, and his work is displayed in important museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Brooklyn Museum. As a writer and illustrator his reputation rests on the Little Toot books, the first of which was rated by the Library of Congress as one of literature’s best children’s books. Many of Gramatky’s books seem uneventful by today’s standards, but Little Toot remains popular in the United States, in Thailand, and throughout Europe.