“Golden Legacy” at Eric Carle Museum
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Of all the books Richard Scarry illustrated, his masterpiece may be 1963’s “I Am a Bunny” (pictured at left).
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But in Scarry’s gouaches and watercolors, the scenes come rivetingly alive – when tiny bunny blows dandelion seeds in the air, or huddles under a toadstool to keep dry during a rainstorm. Scarry animates the scenes through careful use of scale (that little bunny caught up in the swirling forces of nature), light and vivid color (this is before he switched to the more spare pencil and watercolor style of his later work). He captures a child’s sense of wonder at all the newness of the world.
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Four of Scarry’s paintings from the book are among the treasures included in “Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books” at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts.
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Little Golden Books was launched in 1942 as a collaboration between Western Publishing and Simon & Schuster. The idea was to produce quality illustrated books at bargain prices. To keep manufacturing costs low, the books were generally printed with paperboard covers, cheaper paper, and staple bound (the staples hidden behind the trademark gold foil spine). The roster of illustrators included members of the European émigré community who had gathered in New York as World War II flared (Rojankovsky, Gergely); Disney Studios alums (Tenggren, Martin Provensen, Blair – she was the key designer of the “It’s a Small World” ride); and other originals (Leonard Weisgard, Eloise Wilkin, Richard Scarry, and Hilary Knight).
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Central to the line’s success was that it was sold primarily in grocery stores, drug stores and the like – a pioneering example of the mass marketing of books. The books could be uneven, but Golden Books’ powerhouse artists produced a library of classic children’s literature. But that under sells their achievement. The best – like Scarry’s “I Am a Bunny” or Blair’s “I Can Fly” (pictured above) – are astonishing works of art, some of the finest art produced in the past century.
“Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books,” Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 West Bay Road, Amherst, Massachusetts, Nov. 24, 2009, to Feb. 28, 2010.
Previously:
"Picturing the World: The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen" at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in 2006.
Pictured from top to bottom: Alice and Martin Provensen from "The Color Kittens." Copyright © 1949, 1958, renewed 1986 by Random House, Inc.; Richard Scarry from "I Am a Bunny." © 1963 Golden Books Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved.; Gustaf Tenggren from "Tenggren's Tawny Scrawny Lion."copyright © 1952, ren. 1980 by Random House, Inc.; Richard Scarry from "I Am a Bunny."; Mary Blair from "I Can Fly." Copyright © 1951 Western Publishing, Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1979. All rights reserved.; Garth Williams from "The Giant Book of Elves and Fairies." Copyright © 1951, ren. 1979 by Random House, Inc.; Illustration by Gustaf Tenggren from "The Poky Little Puppy." copyright © 1942, ren. 1970 by Western Publishing Company, Inc.; Richard Scarry from "I Am a Bunny."
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2 Comments:
The Color Kittens was THE book I remembered from when I was a little kid. I finally found a copy and had to buy it. The illustrations, though simple, feed the imagination.
great stuff!
i had the bunny book as a kid.
it's magic to me.
the illustrations are great, but i like the text as well.
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