IN THE Central Gallery

Toot & Re-Toot: The Return of Hardie Gramatky's Little Toot

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In this exhibition, never-before seen sketches from Gramatky’s Disney days and from his unpublished notebooks provide in-depth view of the genesis of a classic.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 is 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.