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by Sharon Robinson, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Scholastic Inc./Scholastic Press. Illustrations copyright © 2009 by Kadir Nelson. Used by permission
In The Central Gallery
Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson
December 3, 2011 - May 6, 2012
Testing the Ice by Sharon Robinson, an educational consultant for Major League Baseball and vice chairman of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and illustrated by the award-winning Kadir Nelson is a story about her father, baseball legend Jackie Robinson. The original art for the book as well as numerous preliminary sketches will be on view in the museum’s Central Gallery from December 13, 2011 until May 6, 2012. It will complement the art, also by Nelson, for We Are the Ship, a history of the Negro Leagues, which will be in the East Gallery from February 7 until June 10, 2012.
On April 15, 1947, Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first African-American man to play in major league baseball. In 1962, he became the first African-American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But this is not that story. Daughter Sharon Robinson's story is about an incident that happened in her family after her father retired from baseball. There was a pond behind the house in Stamford Connecticut where the Robinson family moved in 1955. The children wanted to ice skate, and Jackie wanted to be sure the ice was thick enough. One of the very few things he couldn’t do was swim, but that didn’t deter him from making sure his children and their friends would be safe. He went out on the ice, knowing it could have dire consequences. This selfless act illustrates his bravery in his personal life rather than his professional life.
"He was brave when he went out on the ice and he was brave when he went on the baseball field," Nelson said. "My role is really like a documentarian and an author. I shed light on pieces of history that don't always get as much attention as they deserve." In an interview about the book, Nelson said, "You don't want to say something that has already been said; you want to add something to the story."
On April 1, 2012, the museum will host a conversation with Sharon Robinson, Kadir Nelson, and NPR’s Scott Simon, who has written a biography of Jackie Robinson.
See a book trailer with Robinson and Nelson
Illustration © 2011 by Eric Carle
In The West Gallery
The Art of Eric Carle: The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse
September 10, 2011 - March 20, 2012
In anticipation of the October 2011 publication of Eric Carle’s latest book, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, the Museum will be exhibiting its original art beginning September 20, 2011 and remaining on view until March 20, 2012. Executed in his signature colorfully-designed collage technique, the book encourages the young artist to let his/her imagination run free. The story takes inspiration from an episode in Carle’s German school days when he was invited by his art teacher Fridolin Kraus to see the work of artists deemed “degenerate” by the Nazi regime. Among these artists was the German Expressionist Franz Marc, who painted horses blue. It was this subjectivity that had such a galvanizing effect and led to Carle’s determination to become an artist.