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Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire


Ingri d'Aulaire (December 27, 1904 – October 24, 1980) and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire (September 30, 1898 – May 1, 1986) were U.S. immigrant writers and illustrators of children's books who worked primarily as a team.

Edgar Parin, originally of Swiss citizenship, was born in Munich, Germany to the noted Italian portrait painter Gino Parin and Ella Auler, a talented artist and musician who had moved from St. Louis to Paris. Edgar Parin took his mother's maiden name when she changed it to from Auler to d'Aulaire. After studying architecture for a year in Munich, he began art studies at its School of Arts and Crafts (, German). Edgar, a pupil of Hans Hofmann and Henri Matisse, studied fresco in Florence, painted murals in France and Norway, and exhibited in Paris, Berlin and Oslo. He illustrated many books in Germany from 1922 to 1926 and painted frescoes in Norway from 1926 to 1927.

was born in Kongsberg, Norway. When she was 15, the renowned Norwegian painter Harriet Backer encouraged her to pursue art as a career, and Ingri later studied at art schools in Norway, Germany, and France.

Ingri and Edgar met in Munich when Ingri was an art student. They were married in 1925. A modest insurance settlement following a near-fatal bus–trolley collision in Paris provided the seed money for Edgar's steerage-class voyage to the U.S. to scout for opportunities. He garnered enough commissions illustrating books to send for Ingri and they moved into a cold-water walk-up flat in Brooklyn in 1929.

At first they pursued separate careers. Edgar concentrated on illustrating books using wood block engravings and stone lithography; Ingri garnered commissions to paint portraits of prominent businessmen.

Their work caught the eye of the director of the New York Public Library. Acting on her suggestion, the d'Aulaires decided to turn their talents to children's books and collaborated to create The Magic Rug in 1931. Shortly thereafter they became U.S. citizens. They lived and worked in Wilton, Connecticut, from 1941 until their deaths in the 1980s. They also had a farm in Royalton, Vermont.


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