[3] Born in Saarbrücken, The Territory of the Saar Basin, and raised in Strasbourg, Back's family moved to Paris at the start of the Second World War.

[3] Back also provided artwork for Denys Arcand's 1964 National Film Board of Canada short documentary Samuel de Champlain (Québec 1603).

[5] Back was nominated for a 1989 Governor General's Award in the Children's Literature – Illustration category for L'Homme qui plantait des arbres.

He received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb in 2010.

Back founded "Société Québécoise pour la Défense des Animaux", a society to protect animals.