I’m looking for a picture book that has the artist’s self portrait throughout. The image of the artist is looking at the reader are the subject behind him is one mouse or mice. I remember the mice or mouse driving a classic black convertible. There may be more, but either way the mice were up to no good. I think the mice were doing various bad things, but I’m not sure. In his self portraits, the artist does not look amused by the mischief. This book has a sixties feel. The artist is heavy set and wears glasses in his pictures. He looks like he’s in his sixties. There is a lot of white space in the pictures. The art is very precise and in the realm of realism. I’m pretty sure the artist/author is very famous.
I had a book called How the Mouse Was Hit on the Head and so Discovered the World, by Etienne Delessert. One of the pictures in it was of the author, and the description of the man was very much as you describe him (older, white, heavy set, glasses, odd look). I do not remember the mouse having a car or anything like that, or even if it was in that particular picture but maybe he did another book with similar images? The images were very realistically drawn, though in this particular book, the overall pictures were kind of surreal since it deal with how young kids at the time viewed the world (stars are cats’ eyes, the sun is thrown across the sky, that sort of thing). But definitely a 60s feel to the pictures, and a noticeable use of white space throughout the book, so it’s worth taking a look at his work.
The book I was looking for was in fact How the Mouse Was Hit on the Head and so Discovered the World, by Etienne Delessert. Thank you so much!