Two-time Oscar-winning illustrator, animator and filmmaker Frédéric Back has died.
The German-born artist grew up in Strasbourg, France, and studied lithographic illustration in Paris. He also studied fine arts in Rennes before moving to the Canadian province of Quebec, in 1948.
Back worked for Radio-Canada in the 1950s, as a graphic artist and illustrator. But he made his mark with his animation films, which earned him international acclaim.
Back was nominated for four Academy Awards and won two — his first in 1982 for his short Crac! and the second
for the better-known The Man Who Planted Trees, a 30-minute tale told with some 20,000 charcoal drawings. It was also in the running for a Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1987.
He once said “We have a freedom of interpretation when we draw. We can put in fantasy, but also inject our ideas and our convictions. What is great about animation films is that they are accessible to all.
An Officer of the Order of Canada, Knight of the National Order of Quebec, and an Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters, he was said to be a good and humble man.
The Man Who Planted Trees’ director Phil Comeau said Wednesday “he was always serving others, really very generous.”
Back, who was a vegetarian, espoused environmental causes and also founded an animal defense organization.
He died of cancer at 89.
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