From that day, little by little, I gave my golden feathers away
In The Central Gallery
Birds of a Feather: The Art of Eric Carle and Leo Lionni
May 11 - December 9, 2007
When Eric Carle returned to America in 1952, a meeting with Leo Lionni resulted in a friendship and a job lead. The rest, as they say, is history. Neither Eric Carle nor Leo Lionni ever imagined they later would create some of the most memorable picture books of our time. The similarities between these two artists are quite striking: their pictures are filled with animals and nature; they drew inspiration from their childhood experiences; and their early careers in graphic design can be seen in their bold simplicity and elegant sense of design.
Illustration from The Spiderwick Chronicles: Book 2, The Seeing Stone
In The West Gallery
Spiderwick: From Page to Screen
September 22, 2007 - January 27, 2008
Spiderwick: From Page to Screen explores the art of Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black’s The Spiderwick Chronicles, and follows the story’s wondrous translation to the big screen. The exhibition, inspired by Museum Director Nick Clark’s sneak peek at early plans for The Spiderwick Chronicles movie (coming February 15, 2008), combines DiTerlizzi’s imaginative and masterful renderings of the natural and unnatural world with the film production team’s extraordinary interpretation of that creative vision.
The exhibition Spiderwick: From Page to Screen has been generously underwritten by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, and by a grant from Triad Foundation, Inc. Additional support has been provided by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.
The Spiderwick Chronicles movie logo used here with permission.
Copyright © 2007 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.
Illustration from Betty Lou Blue written by Nancy Crocker.
In The East Gallery
Children Should Be Seen: The Image of the Child in American Picture-Book Art
November 15, 2007 - March 9, 2008
Presenting a comprehensive survey of the best American picture book art of the last decade, Children Should Be Seen: The Image of the Child in American Picture-Book Art opens with a rare grouping of illustrations chosen from some of the most significant works of the last half-century by artists such as Maurice Sendak, Dr. Seuss, and Ezra Jack Keats. The core of the exhibition consists of artworks dating from 1997 to 2007 and is grouped by the following sub-themes with the aim of highlighting American picture book artists’ interpretations of six of childhood’s formative stages and experiences: The New Child, The Child and Family, The Child at School and at Play, The Child in the Community, The Child in History, The Questioning Child, and The New Picture Book.
Children Should Be Seen: The Image of the Child in American Picture-Book Art has been co-organized by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts and the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, New York, and has been made possible by a generous grant from Helen and Peter Bing. Additional funding for the exhibition has been provided by the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the New York Council for the Humanities or National Endowment for the Humanities.
Click here to view a list of the artists featured in the Children Should Be Seen: The Image of the Child in American Picture-Book Art exhibition.
In The Central Gallery
Toot and Re-Toot: The Return of Hardie Gramatky's Little Toot
December 21, 2007 - May 4, 2008
A perennial favorite, Hardie Gramatky’s Little Toot has sold over six million copies, and has never been out of print. Gramatky’s hero, an exuberant little tugboat, proves his courage when he saves a shipwrecked ocean liner during a terrible storm.
Gramatky, who began his career at Walt Disney’s studio during the Great Depression, brought something entirely new to the art of the picture book: an animator’s pacing and flair for comic action. Also a master watercolorist, Gramatky’s breezy technique endowed Little Toot’s pages with special brightness. Recently reprinted with restored colors and the original endpapers on the centenary of Gramatky’s birth, Little Toot continues to charm and enchant its audience.
In this exhibition, never-before seen sketches from Gramatky’s Disney days and from his unpublished notebooks provide in-depth view of the genesis of a classic.
This exhibition has been made possible in part by a gift from Matthew and Ellen Lougee Simmons and by the guidance and encouragement of Kendall and Linda Gramatky Smith.
Study for cover, Days With Frog and Toad
Graphite, ink and watercolor on illustration board
Courtesy of the Estate of Arnold Lobel
In The East Gallery
Seeking A State of Grace: The Art of Arnold Lobel
March 22 - June 15, 2008
In celebration of what would have been Arnold Lobel’s seventy-fifth birthday, the Museum has organized a retrospective of his illustrious career. Although his career was woefully short—he was only fifty-four when he died—Lobel created over seventy books and was awarded the Caldecott Medal for Fables (1981); two Caldecott Honors for Frog and Toad Are Friends (1971) and Hildilid’s Night, written by Cheli Duran Ryan (1972); and a Newbery Honor for Frog and Toad Together (1973). The exhibition will provide an overview of the full range of his career with considerable attention paid to his signature legacy—Frog and Toad.
Support for the exhibition Seeking A State of Grace: The Art of Arnold Lobel has been provided in part by HarperCollins Children’s Books.
Click here for more information about this exhibit, or related events and programming.
In The West Gallery
Selections from the Art of Eric Carle: Bears and Beyond
February 8 - August 31, 2008
As one of the most acclaimed authors and illustrators of our time, Eric Carle’s work has world-wide appeal. Selections from The Art of Eric Carle: Bears and Beyond explores the evolution of Carle’s collage technique, highlighting his collaboration with Bill Martin Jr. On view for the first time will be the art created for Martin’s last manuscript, Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? This exhibition will also feature other insights into Carle’s creative process, including examples of his non-book art, as well as recent acquisitions from the Museum’s permanent collection.
Support for Selections from the Art of Eric Carle: Bears and Beyond has been provided in part by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers.
Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection
In The East Gallery
Flights Into Fantasy: The Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection of Children’s Illustration
July 1 - October 26, 2008
View examples of fantasy in children’s illustrations by some of the most famous illustrators of the 19th and 20th centuries from the remarkable collection of Kendra and Allan Daniel. The Daniels’ collection focuses on works from the Golden Age of Illustration, a period between 1880 and 1940 that produced unprecedented excellence in book and magazine illustration. Drawings and paintings from books such as Winnie the Pooh (Ernest H. Shepard), Babar (Jean de Brunhoff), Madeline (Ludwig Bemelmans), Raggedy Ann (Johnny Gruelle), Alice in Wonderland (Jessie Wilcox Smith), Snow White (Wanda Gàg), Little Miss Muffett (Arthur Rackham) and Peter Rabbit (Harrison Cady), are among the superb works selected. Co-organized with the Brandywine River Museum.
Click here to purchase the official exhibition catalogue and poster.
First published in 1940
In The Central Gallery
Dorothy Kunhardt's Pat the Bunny
May 16 - December 7, 2008
Dorothy Kunhardt was already a successful children's author when she wrote the ground-breaking Pat the Bunny for her 3-year-old daughter, Edith. Pat the Bunny is a "touch and feel" book for small children and babies that has been a perennial best seller since its publication in 1940. It is hardly a book in the literary sense, but more a collection of things to do, such as pat the fake fur of a rabbit on one page, feel a bit of sandpaper that stands for "daddy's beard" on another, and look in a mirror on yet another. Kunhardt thought that there was more to books than just words on paper and added elements that could increase a child’s love for reading and learning. The exhibition, taken from the archive of the Meserve Kunhardt Foundation, will explore the evolution of this innovative book as well as other facets of Kunhardt’s rich and varied career.
Support for the exhibition Dorothy Kunhardt’s Pat the Bunny has been provided in part by Random House Children’s Books.
The Rooster Who Set Out to See the World
Acrylic, marker and tissue paper on Bainbridge board
Collection of Eric and Barbara Carle
In The West Gallery
Selections from The Art of Eric Carle
September 16, 2008 - January 25, 2009
As one of the most acclaimed authors and illustrators of our time, Eric Carle’s work has world-wide appeal. Images, including those from Rooster’s Off To See The World and The Very Lonely Firefly, will explore the evolution of Carle’s collage technique with particular attention to his use of shape and color. This exhibition will also feature other insights into Carle’s creative process, including examples of his non-book art, as well as recent acquisitions from the Museum’s permanent collection.
He walked around with Little Red Riding Hood for a while, making polite conversation
India ink and acrylic
Reprinted with permission from the Estate of Trina Schart Hyman
In The East Gallery
Over Rainbows and Down Rabbit Holes: The Art of Children's Books
November 11, 2008 - March 8, 2009
This exhibition features over 80 works of art created specifically for children’s books, drawn exclusively from the outstanding collection assembled by Les and Zora Charles. These original works of art will inspire the imagination and celebrate the creativity of making picture books for readers of all ages. Selections include examples from Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but the majority of the exhibition focuses on the genius of this genre working in the post-World War II period. Artists on view include: Chris Van Allsburg (Jumanji); Kinuko Y. Craft (Cinderella); Maurice Sendak (The Bee-Man of Orn); Leo and Diane Dillon (Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears); Trina Schart Hyman (Little Red Riding Hood); Gerald McDermott (Arrow to the Sun); Barry Moser (Jump On Over); and Jerry Pinkney (John Henry).
The exhibition is co-organized with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and curated by Lolly Robinson.
In The Central Gallery
Petra Mathers: Lottie's New Friend
December 19, 2008 - May 3, 2009
In celebration of Petra Mathers’s extraordinary gift to the Museum of all the original art and preliminary materials from her popular series of books about Lottie, the amiable chicken from Oregon, The Eric Carle Museum is pleased to present the second exhibition of work from the series, the New York Times award-winning Lottie’s New Friend (1999).
In The East Gallery
Those Telling Lines: The Art of Virginia Lee Burton
March 24 - June 21, 2009
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art’s exhibit of Those Telling Lines: the Art of Virginia Lee Burton celebrates the centenary of her birth and offers a rare opportunity to see both the original art she created for her picture books and the designs she created for fabrics.
Virginia Lee Burton (1909-1968) is best remembered as an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books, including Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (1939), The Little House (1942), Katy and the Big Snow (1943), and Song of Robin Hood (1947). Burton’s picture books often emphasize the continued utility and adaptability of older machines—and the traditions they represent—in a modern and fast-paced world, and a complementary sense of activity and industry fills her detailed illustrations.
In addition to her work in children’s literature, Burton was also a designer, painter, print maker, and an integral member of the Folly Cove Designers, a collective of artists who created printed fabrics using hand-carved linoleum blocks. Through this often forgotten group, Burton produced fabrics with elaborate patterns, designs, and even pictorial story lines that are as delightful and as distinctive as her children’s books, though far less well known. This exhibition is curated by Barbara Elleman.
Support for the exhibition Those Telling Lines: The Art of Virginia Lee Burton has been provided in part by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Click here for events and programming related to this exhibition.
Click here to view the catalog for this exhibition.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
In The West Gallery
80/40: Celebrating the Birthdays of Eric Carle and The Very Hungry Caterpillar
February 10 - September 6, 2009
In celebration of Eric Carle’s 80th Birthday and the 40th Anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the Museum has organized a special exhibition that chronicles both Eric’s life and career. From his childhood art and advertising work to some of the history behind the creation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the visitor will experience the full spectrum of Eric’s creative genius.
In The Reading Library
Meet Your Friends from Japan!
ともだちは日本にもいるよ！
August 20 - September 27, 2009
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art has a collection of Japanese picture books donated by Japanese publishers, picture book art museums, illustrators, and friends of the museum. In this exhibition, Meet Your Friends from Japan! ともだちは日本にもいるよ！, you are invited into the world of modern Japanese picture books that share similar graphic qualities or imaginative themes as those in Eric Carle’s works. Consequently, you may see Japanese culture in a new light as something that is very different and yet familiar to you.
In The East Gallery
Drawings from the Heart: Tomie dePaola Turns 75
July 3 - November 1, 2009
In celebration of Tomie dePaola’s 75th birthday, The Carle is organizing a major retrospective of his career, Drawings from the Heart: Tomie dePaola Turns 75. Curated by renowned authority of children’s literature and biographer of Tomie dePaola, Barbara Elleman, the exhibition will comprise works from his favorite books such as Strega Nona: An Original Tale, Bill and Pete to the Rescue, and Big Anthony and the Magic Ring as well as examples of his non-picture book art. Themes will include characters, personified animals, and heart motifs. The exhibition will explore the artist’s profound appreciation of design and art history to underscore his diverse talents.
Courtesy of Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA).
Click here for events and programming related to this exhibition.
From THE POOH STORY BOOK by A. A. Milne,
Dutton, renewed © 1965 by A. A. Milne. Used by
permission of Dutton Children’s Books, A Division of Penguin Young Readers Group, A Member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
In The Central Gallery
The World of Pooh: Selections from the Penguin Young Readers Group Collection
May 15 - November 8, 2009
Winnie the Pooh is one of the most beloved animals in children’s literature. Making his first appearance in 1926 in Winnie-the-Pooh and again in the 1928 sequel, The House at Pooh Corner, this “bear of little brain” has been immortalized by the words of author A. A. Milne and the simple but enduring illustrations of E. H. Shepard. Together with his friends Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger, Pooh’s adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood have enchanted readers young and old for over eight decades, and have been described as one of the greatest celebrations of childhood.
Through the generosity of Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., The Carle is the long-term repository of 125 drawings by Shepard. To celebrate the release of Return to the Hundred Acre Wood (October 2009), the first-ever official sequel to these much-loved books, we are pleased to exhibit selections from these engaging paintings and drawings.
In The East Gallery
Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books
Featuring Artwork from Iconic Children’s Books
November 24, 2009 - February 28, 2010
This exhibition will present the most extensive public showing ever of original illustration art from American publishing’s best loved and most consequential picture-book series, Little Golden Books—the history-making experiment that celebrated its 65th anniversary in 2007.
Click here for events and programming related to this exhibition.
This exhibition was organized by the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, Abilene, TX.
Support for this exhibition provided by Random House Children's Books.