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.
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.
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.
In The West Gallery
80/40: Continuing the Celebration and Exploring the Undersea World of Eric Carle
September 19, 2009 - March 28, 2010
The Carle continues its celebration of Eric Carle's 80th birthday and the 40th anniversary of the publication of The Very Hungry Caterpillar with a new installation of work from this remarkable book. AS well, in conjunction with Picture Book Theater’s productions based on A House for Hermit Crab and Mister Seahorse, examples from these two books are on view. To augment this aquatic theme, marine subjects from the permanent collection by Norman Gorbaty and Peter Sìs have also been put on exhibit.
In The Central Gallery
Mother Goose in an Air-Ship: McLoughlin Bros. 19th Century Children’s Books from the Liman Collection
November 24, 2009 - April 18, 2010
This exhibit highlights beautifully-illustrated children’s books, printed in Brooklyn by McLoughlin Bros., a publisher who pioneered new technology and marketing techniques in the mass production of inexpensive children’s books. These books were recognized as precursors to the Golden Books and constitute a nice adjunct to the exhibition, Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books, in the East Gallery. The Liman Book Collection is an especially rich resource for exploring the values, character, and world views of nineteenth-century America.
Visitors will see children’s classics, such as Gulliver’s Travels and adaptations of Robinson Crusoe, educational books, such as various ABCs, Mother Goose stories, Christmas Books, books teaching children how to paint or draw, along with games and puzzles. These delightful books will “amuse and delight” both children and their parents. The Liman Collection of Nineteenth-Century McLoughlin Bros. Illustrated Children’s Books was graciously donated to the Brooklyn Historical Society by Mrs. Ellen Liman.
The Fox and the Grapes © 1950 by Antonio Frasconi.
In The East Gallery
Into the Wood: Antonio Frasconi's Art for Children
March 16 - June 13, 2010
Legendary artist Antonio Frasconi turns ninety-one this year. Raised in Uruguay by Italian parents, Frasconi came to New York to pursue his dream of being an artist — and was quickly recognized as one of the most innovative illustrators of his time. Best known for his intricate woodcuts and powerful social commentary, Frasconi also created a beautiful series of children’s books, inspired by the birth of his sons, Pablo and Miguel. One of his best known, See and Say: A Picture Book in Four Languages [1955], was groundbreaking — a book not as much about learning to speak four different languages as it was to experience them as part of Frasconi’s vision of a vast and complex world. In addition to the original art from his picture books, the exhibition includes books created in such small editions they are rarely available to a wide audience for viewing.
Click here to see a short video of Antonio Frasconi making his wood cuts.
The Mixed-Up Chameleon © 1975
by Eric Carle
In The West Gallery
Eric Carle: Prints and Papers
April 2 - September 12, 2010
This exhibition explores some of Eric Carle’s early printmaking. From his days in advertising, Eric employed linoleum cuts among other media to achieve a visual variety. Some of his first books in which he used the lino-cut technique reflect his emphasis on bold shape and design so associated with his collage technique, albeit without the color. Work from his early and later books are shown together in a thematically and stylistically connected display.
In The East Gallery
An Exquisite Vision: The Art of Lisbeth Zwerger
June 29 - September 26, 2010
Lisbeth Zwerger is one of the foremost illustrators working today. In 1990, at the age of thirty-six, she received the Hans Christian Andersen medal—the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for children’s literature. Her range of subject is remarkable, encompassing the Brothers Grimm, O. Henry, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, and L. Frank Baum to name a few. Her artistic vision is informed by watercolors executed with a deftness and delicacy that nevertheless possess an assurance and substance.
Read how Lisbeth chooses the books she illustrates.
This exhibition made possible with the generous support of Helen and Peter Bing.
In The Central Gallery
Leo Lionni: Geraldine, the Music Mouse
April 29 - November 28, 2010
In celebration/observance of the centenary of the birth of the beloved artist Leo Lionni, the Carle is mounting a small exhibition in its Central Gallery of Geraldine, the Music Mouse, borrowed from the Lionni family. The Museum honored Lionni in 2003 with a full retrospective—one of the first exhibitions mounted at the Museum. Best known for his collage technique and gentle social commentary, Lionni started to create his beautiful series of children’s books, inspired by his grandchildren, Annie and Pippo. Lionni got Eric Carle his first job when Eric returned to America in 1952, and although they were not close socially, their work shares elegant design and big stories told through humble animals.
© 1990 by William Steig.
Used by permission of
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
In The East Gallery
Monsters and Miracles: A Journey through Jewish Picture Books
October 15, 2010 - January 23, 2011
A collaboration with the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and the Yiddish Book Center, this ambitious exhibition explores the evolution of Jewish picture books from illuminated manuscripts, alef-bets [books of Hebrew letters], and Passover Haggadot to stories that consider monsters [golems, dybbuks, and wild things], life in the shtetl, and the role of migration in Jewish life. Curated by Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor of Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, and independent scholar, Neal Sokol, the exhibition comprises a “who’s who” of picture-book artists, including, among others, Mordicai Gerstein, Nonny Hogrogian, Trina Schart Hyman, Maurice Sendak, Uri Shulevitz, and William Steig. An 80-page illustrated exhibition catalog is available for purchase.
Click here for Monsters & Miracles programming and events.
Additional programming is next door at The Yiddish Book Center. All members of the Yiddish Book Center receive 15 percent off in The Carle Book Store during the exhibition's run, while Carle members will receive a 15 percent discount at The Yiddish Book Center's store.
Illustration from TODAY IS MONDAY copyright © 1993 by Eric Carle
In The West Gallery
Eric Carle: A Feast for the Eyes
September 21, 2010 - March 28, 2011
Join us for a smorgasbord of picture book art that explores the unique role food plays throughout children’s literature. The works of Eric Carle, as well as the works of other artists from our permanent collection, illustrate a range of themes, from food as basic sustenance to food as the center of family social life. For Carle, for example, food has been a leitmotif — famously, a caterpillar storing up food for its transformation into a butterfly, and with equal determination, a little boy making pancakes truly from scratch. Additional events highlighting the exhibits are planned in our reading library, auditorium, and art studio.
Illustration from ONCE UPON A TIME (SHE SAID) copyright © 1987 by Ruth Sanderson
In The Central Gallery
Partners in Wonder: Selections from the Collection of Jane Yolen
December 14, 2010 - May 1, 2011
Jane Yolen has enjoyed a long and distinguished career writing books for young and older children. Her ability to connect so seamlessly to such a varied audience developmentally is remarkable. In the process, she has forged deep ties to many of the artists that have illustrated her books, and through the years they have given her works from many of these collaborations. This exhibition constitutes a small selection of paintings and drawings that Yolen has amassed over the years. Among the artists included are: Kathryn Brown, Tomie dePaola, Jane Dyer, Lauren Mills, Barry Moser, Dennis Nolan, and Ruth Sanderson.
Illustration copyright 2009
by Etienne Delessert
In The East Gallery
What a Circus! The Art of
Etienne Delessert
February 8 - June 5, 2011
This retrospective of Delessert surveys his distinguished career that comprises more than eighty books collectively translated into fourteen languages. From his early collaboration with Eugene Ionesco to surreal and politically-charged interpretations of Big and Bad and Humpty Dumpty, Delessert intrigues his readers, young and old, with his imaginary creatures and landscapes.
For more information about Etienne Delessert visit www.etiennedelessert.com.
For exhibition-related events click here
What a Circus! The Art of Etienne Delessert is sponsored in part by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
This exhibition was organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, Abilene, Texas.
In The West Gallery
The Art of Eric Carle: Family and Friends
April 1 - September 4, 2011
To mark the 40th anniversary of the publication of Do You Want to Be My Friend? The Carle has mounted an exhibition featuring the theme of friendship. This book is dedicated to Eric’s boyhood friend from Syracuse, Carlton Mayer. Despite an almost 20-year hiatus, this friendship remained true, and they re-united when Eric returned to America in 1952. Because of the important theme of friendship, Eric has long acknowledged this book as his favorite. To celebrate this anniversary a group of works from this book and several others where friendship is an underlying theme are on view. In some cases these bonds are between people, as in The Tiny Seed(1987); in others, such as The Lamb and Butterfly(1988), animals befriend each other. In a recent book, Where Are You Going? To See My Friend(2002), friendship connects two cultures—Japan and America. And finally, it seemed appropriate to point out the folly of not wanting friendship, so wonderfully captured in The Grouchy Ladybug(1977).
In The West Gallery
Winnie the Pooh: Drawings by E.H. Shepard
August 1 - September 21, 2011
Extended due to Popular Demand 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. Recently, private collectors acquired the penultimate drawing from Winnie-the-Pooh that shows Pooh and Piglet walking into the sunset just moments before they turn back into ordinary toys and Christopher Robin “drags Winnie-the-Pooh—bump, bump, bump—going up the stairs behind him.” Happily for The Carle, the collectors generously asked if we would like to have the drawing on loan for a period of time. Thus, we are pleased to make this wonderful work the centerpiece of a small exhibition surrounded by a selection of the engaging drawings from the Penguin archive.
In The Reading Library
Meet Your Friends from Japan!
ともだちは日本にもいるよ！
March 20 - September 3, 2011
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.
Tomi’s transportation provided by Air France through Phaidon Press
In The East Gallery
Tomi Ungerer, Chronicler of the Absurd
June 18 - October 9, 2011
This exhibition celebrates Ungerer’s 80th birth year. A trilingual author, Ungerer has published over 140 books ranging from his much loved children’s books to his controversial adult work.
Ungerer’s career, like contemporaries Leo Lionni and Eric Carle, was multi-faceted, encompassing advertising and political commentary. Prior to leaving America, Ungerer arranged for the Free Library of Philadelphia to acquire a substantial portion of his work up until that point.
Selected from archives and private collections, the exhibition documents the bulk of Ungerer’s career as a writer and illustrator of children’s books. Included in the exhibition, among others, will be examples from Ungerer’s first book, The Mellops Go Flying (1957), as well as The Three Robbers (1962), Flat Stanley (1964), and Moon Man (1967).
For more information including Tomi Ungerer related programming and events, click here
Read a recent Publisher's Weekly interview with Tomi Click here.
In The Auditorium
Frank Viva: Along a Long Road
September 23 - November 1, 2011
Speed off on a delightful adventure with Frank Viva as he takes you up, around, down, along, and through his book, Along A Long Road. Explore the rhythmic language and striking illustrative style that have resulted in the Boston Globe describing the book as “…one of those rare picture books that deserves a place not only on a child’s bookshelf but in an art museum – and would be equally at home in both.”
In The Central Gallery
The Heartaches of a French Cat
May 17 - November 27, 2011
In the spring of 2010, Barbara McClintock made a promised gift of the vast majority of materials relating to her award-winning book Heartaches of a French Cat (1989). To celebrate this generous gesture, the Carle is mounting a small exhibition in its central gallery which will be on view from May 17 to November 27, 2011.
Inspired by stories of the 19th-century French authors, Honoré de Balzac and P. J. Stahl, McClintock tells the story entirely in pantomime of an upwardly mobile cat who is wooed and betrayed by a Count of no account. Her anthropomorphic drawings were informed by the highly popular 19th-century French caricaturist J. J. Granville. The book is a wonderful blend of black and white and color illustrations. In addition to the finished works, the exhibition will display a selection of dummies [lay-outs for the final book], character studies, preliminary sketches, and color trials. The exhibition reflects a true labor of love that was acknowledged as one of the top ten children’s books of the year in 1989 by The New York Times.
In The Reading Library
And The Rest Is History: Stories of America’s Children
September 3, 2011 - January 3, 2012
An exhibition of high-quality prints
Come explore history through picture books! From the hardships of Anne Hutchinson’s children in Massachusetts Bay Colony to young protesters from Alabama in the Civil Rights Movement, these books reveal not only events–small and large–from the nation’s past, but also the wide array of childhood experiences throughout American history.
© 2001 by Jules Feiffer
In The East Gallery
Growing Every Which Way But Up: The Children’s Book Art of Jules Feiffer
October 25, 2011 - January 22, 2012
As an artist and writer of probing wit and uncommon humanity, Jules Feiffer has made a breathtakingly varied contribution to America’s cultural life. The Carle will honor his efforts as a children’s book author with this exhibition. Feiffer has excelled in journalism, in film, and off Broadway. The exhibition will focus on his equally prodigious talents as an author and illustrator of children’s books. Book-ended by his collaboration with Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth (1961) and The Odious Ogre (2010), the exhibition focuses on his own books. From I’m Not Bobby! and By The Side Of The Road, where Feiffer heralds “to heck with grownups,” to Bark, George where he aimed at taking the lid off the excessive worry. Feiffer found that picture-book artists and cartoonists lived by many of the same imperatives: the need to instantly grab the reader’s attention, the need to simplify without oversimplifying, and the need to keep the action moving. In sum, this will be a very lively exhibition.
For related programming click here.
See a trailer of the Phantom Toll Booth documentary
click here.
An interview with Leonard Marcus about the Annotated Phantom Tollbooth
click here