Telling Stories with Pictures:
The Art of Children's Book Illustration
September 13 – December 28, 1997
In recognition of the growing interest in children's books, and the large number of illustrators living in New England, the DeCordova Museum is presenting Telling Stories with Pictures: The Art of Children's Book Illustration. Organized by Director of Curatorial Affairs Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, the exhibition includes original art created during the last 25 years by 30 illustrators. The exhibition's intent is to recognize children's book illustration as an art form, and to show the wide range of styles and techniques that are in use. Subjects and themes represented include alphabet books, myths, folk and fairy tales, fantasy, adventure, mystery, and drama.
The exhibition includes artists who first illustrated children's books in the 1940s to those who began their illustration careers in the 1990s. The artists are Molly Bang, Leonard Baskin, Maryjane Begin, Marc Brown, Ashley Bryan, Laurent de Brunhoff, Eric Carle, Barbara Cooney, Etienne Delessert, Antonio Frasconi, Edward Gorey, Trina Schart Hyman, Kathy Jakobsen, Steven Kellogg, Giles Laroche, David Macaulay, James Marshall, Salley Mavor, David McPhail, Holly Meade, Dean Morrissey, Barry Moser, Ilse Plume, Maurice Sendak, William Steig, James Stevenson, Phoebe Stone, Nancy Tafuri, Alain Vaes, and Chris Van Allsburg.
Each artist in the exhibition is represented by between five and twelve original art works. Additionally, the exhibition includes preliminary drawings, sketchbooks, and dummies, or preliminary designs for the books, so that viewers can understand the stages that artists go through before the final illustrations are realized. Styles and techniques represented range from the tissue paper collages of Eric Carle, the psychologically charged and surrealist drawings of Chris Van Allsburg, the macabre and often humorous pen and ink drawings of Edward Gorey, the fluid line and romantic characters of Trina Schart Hyman, the charming fabric reliefs of Salley Mavor, the endearing watercolors of Laurent de Brunhoff's Babar, the folk art paintings of Barbara Cooney, and the popular Arthur
books by Marc Brown. The exhibition includes such masters in the children's book field as Maurice Sendak, who is represented by preliminary drawings from the book Outside Over There, and William Steig, well-known for his cartoons for The New Yorker. Artists newer to the field such as Maryjane Begin, Phoebe Stone, and Holly Meade are also included.
The installation in the galleries will include copies of the published books, provided by the artists and publishers. The Museum gratefully acknowledges the publishers for their cooperation, particularly Little, Brown and Company, Houghton Mifflin Company, and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. The exhibition is supported in part by Little, Brown and Company.
Rachel Rosenfield Lafo
Director of Curatorial Affairs
