1954–55 Increasingly interested in the United States, Tomi begins visiting the American Cultural Centre in Strasbourg, where he befriends American Fulbright students and becomes fascinated with artists like James Thurber, Charles Addams, and, in particular, Saul Steinberg. He travels widely across Europe (to Iceland, Norway, Yugoslavia, and Greece), hitchhiking and working on cargo vessels. Between trips, Tomi earns a living as a window dresser and advertising artist for local businesses. 1956 He sets out for New York with sixty dollars in his pocket and what he later describes as a “trunk full of drawings and manuscripts.” 1957 Ungerer meets the children’s book editor Ursula Nordstrom at Harper & Brothers who publishes his first children’s book, The Mellops Go Flying. It is an immediate, award-winning success. He completes his first advertising campaign for Burroughs adding machines and also collaborates with numerous publications such as Esquire, Life, Holiday, Harper’s, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, and the Village Voice. 1958–62 Tomi completes the Mellops series and publishes many other books for children, including Crictor (1958), Adelaide (1959), Emil (1960), Rufus (1961), and The Three Robbers (1961), which win numerous prizes, as well as satirical books like Der Herzinfarkt (Heart attack) (1962) and The Underground Sketchbook (1964). He begins a longterm collaboration with Daniel Keel of Zurich-based publisher Diogenes Verlag, who has since become his main publisher. 1962 He holds his first major exhibition in Berlin, where he meets Willy Brandt, who would become chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, and novelist Günter Grass. Tomi becomes busily engaged in the Civil Rights movement, publishing numerous posters against segregation and the Vietnam War.
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