Tour Management by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, Kansas City, Missouri
In The East Gallery
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
February 7 - June 10, 2012
"We are the ship; all else the sea."
Rube Foster, founder of the Negro National League
On view in the museum’s East Gallery from February 7 until June 10, 2012 will be thirty-three paintings, thirteen sketches and educational materials from the book, WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball, by Kadir Nelson, award-winning artist and author. Nelson spent seven years researching, writing, and creating handsome paintings to be included in the brilliantly illustrated book, WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball, which is dedicated to the preservation of the history of Negro Leagues. During the process of creating the paintings and the book, Nelson interviewed former Negro League players, traveled to museums around the country, pored over old photographs, firsthand testimonies and documentaries, collected baseball memorabilia, sports equipment and uniforms, then posed and photographed himself in them, all with the intention of putting himself in the shoes of a former Negro League player to recreate an authentic depiction of life in the Negro Leagues. This exhibition is the story of the Negro Leagues—the story of gifted athletes and determined owners; of racial discrimination and international sportsmanship; of fortunes won and lost; of triumphs and defeats on and off the field. It is a perfect mirror for the social and political history of black America in the first half of the twentieth century. But most of all, the story of the Negro Leagues is about hundreds of unsung heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions, and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world: play ball.
The New York Times named WE ARE THE SHIP one of the Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2008, and Kadir was honored with the 2009 Coretta Scott King Book Award for this work.
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.
Exhibition-related programming
Interview with Kadir Nelson
www.kadirnelson.com
In The West Gallery
The Art of Eric Carle: The Birth of a Book and a Museum
April 3 - September 2, 2012
2012 will mark two ten-year anniversaries for Eric Carle—the opening of the Museum and the publication of “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” said the Sloth. To mark these events, the Museum will put art from the sloth book on view from April 3 until September 2, 2012.
For Eric Carle many of the ideas that he shapes into books come from his own experience. It was his involvement in the creation of this Museum that actually led him to create a book about a sloth. In 2000-2001, weeks and months of thinking, planning, meetings, and decision-making had him going at a hectic pace. Finally, he said, “Enough!” In his studio, with a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, he decided to seek out something completely opposite from the frantic life he had been living. It was there he discovered the sloth. The slow pace of this animal’s existence sent a powerful message to Eric: we need to slow our lives down.
The story began to emerge slowly, slowly, slowly. He began by investigating the habitat of the sloth and learned about the animals that lived around this lethargic creature. Through the process of creating mock-up books, or “dummies” as they are called, he continually revised the story. On view is only a small selection of these working drafts. In addition, he revised the actual art several times. Also on exhibit are some of his designs for the dust jacket as well as a selection of earlier versions of some of the book’s pages.
Our British Cousins: The Magical Art of Maisy and Friends
May 22 - November 25, 2012
Lucy Cousins is the creator of the beloved Maisy series. She is also the author-illustrator of numerous other stories, including the widely acclaimed Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales, a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book, as well as I’m the Best and Hooray for Fish! The Eric Carle Museum is pleased to announce it will host a survey of this wonderful artist’s work: Our British Cousins: The Magical Art of Maisy and Friends in the central gallery. The exhibition, comprising forty works, will be on view from May 22 until November 25, 2012. Lucy Cousins, who lives in Hampshire, England, will make a special visit to the Museum in the fall [consult the website for updated information]. The generosity of Candlewick Press and Walker Books UK have made this exhibition and Lucy’s visit possible.
In The East Gallery
The Snowy Day that Changed America: The Art of Ezra Jack Keats
June 26 - October 14, 2012
Organized by the Jewish Museum
thejewishmuseum.org
In The Central Gallery
Some Book! Some Art!: Selected Drawings by Garth Williams for Charlotte’s Web
December 11, 2012 - May 5, 2013
Charlotte's Web, by acclaimed author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams, is one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century children’s literature. White’s elegant prose and Williams’s exquisite drawings form a spirited dialogue that constitutes a conversation of substance and style. And to this day it is a book beloved by young and old. The sale of the Charlotte’s Web drawings last October caused quite a stir. Everyone connected with the world of children’s book art was thrilled by the strong prices. Thus, to celebrate our purchase, Williams’s 100th birthday, the 60th anniversary of Charlotte’s Web, and the Museum’s 10th year, the Carle is assembling a key group of the drawings from the book dispersed in the sale to be on view in its central gallery from December 11, 2012 until April 22, 2013. The exhibition, Some Book! Some Art!: Selected Drawings by Garth Williams for Charlotte’s Web, will comprise approximately 30 finished drawings, as well as a selection of preliminary sketches to help articulate the artist’s working process. Consequently, the exhibition will offer a wonderful celebration of a book that has touched innumerable readers since its publication.
He Dreamed of Pigs From Iowa, 2007
A Perfect Season for Dreaming – Un tiempo Perfecto Para Sonar by Benjamin Allire Saenz
In The East Gallery
Latino Folk Tales: Cuentos Populares-Art by Latino Artists
March 5 - June 9, 2013