Past Exhibitions
Allen Say
Traveling
The Art of Allen Say: A Sense of Place
March 13 – May 30, 2014
The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (NCCIL), Abilene, TX
Traveling
The Art of Allen Say: A Sense of Place
September 19 - October 28, 2009
Lamont Gallery, Philips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH
IN THE East Gallery
The Art of Allen Say: A Sense of Place
Organized in honor of Allen Say’s 70th birthday, The Art of Allen Say: A Sense of Place explores both the technical mastery and thematic complexity of this prolific artist and author. Trained as a commercial photographer, Say found his place writing and illustrating children’s books somewhat by chance in the 1970s. Author of more than twenty works since then, including Grandfather’s Journey (1993), which won the Caldecott Medal in 1994, Say has spent much of his career exploring the rich divide between his Japanese youth and his American coming of age. It is his ability to convey sentiments of alienation and dislocation in ways that speak directly to children that make his books so remarkable. The exhibition is comprised mostly of Say’s illustrations for books, but also contains examples of his commercial photography and oil painting to underscore the full measure of his creative talent, as well as his unifying aesthetic.
This exhibition is supported in part by a gift from Walter Lorraine Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.
