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The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

Carle Museum exhibits recently acquired picture-book art

Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Ashley Bryan, illustration for The Night Has Ears: African Proverbs (Atheneum). Gift of the Ashley Bryan Center. © 1999 Ashley Bryan.
Ashley Bryan, illustration for The Night Has Ears: African Proverbs (Atheneum). Gift of the Ashley Bryan Center. © 1999 Ashley Bryan.

AMHERST, Mass. – The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art continues its 20th anniversary celebration with an exhibition showcasing more than 60 artworks added to the museum during the past five years. The Carle Collection: Recent Acquisitions is on view in the Central Gallery through April 9.

The exhibition represents only a few highlights in the museum’s permanent collection, which is made up of more than 9,000 objects by more than 250 artists. The art covers more than a century of picture book history. Older pieces include an 1899 ink illustration by the Golden Age illustrator Charles Robinson and a 1941 watercolor by the groundbreaking artist Wanda Gag — both artists new to the museum’s collection. There are additional treasures by Sophie Blackall, Bryan Collier, Raul Colon, Lulu Delacre, Lois Lenski, Barry Moser, Allen Say, Richard Scarry, Maurice Sendak, E. H. Shepard, Pamela Zagarenski and 40 others.

Lulu Delacre, illustration for ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! Olinguito, from A to Z! (Children’s Book Press). Gift of the artist. © 2016 Lulu Delacre.
Lulu Delacre, illustration for ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! Olinguito, from A to Z! (Children’s Book Press). Gift of the artist. © 2016 Lulu Delacre.

An eclectic presentation, the show offers a range of subjects and media. The art displays famous picture-book characters such as Mother Goose and Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as historical figures Ida B. Wells, Sonia Sotomayor and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There are folktales and fairytales, from Jerry Pinkney’s Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales (1999) to Astrid Sheckels’s Hector Fox and the Raven’s Revenge (2022). Books in rhyme and prose include Garth Williams’s The Rescuers (1959), Arnold Lobel’s Whiskers and Rhymes (1985), Robin Preiss Glasser’s Fancy Nancy (2006) and Lulu Delacre’s bilingual counting book ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! Olinguito, from A to Z!, (2016).

Allen Say, illustration for A River Dream (Clarion). Gift of Chris Loker and John Windle. © 1988 Allen Say.

Allen Say, illustration for A River Dream (Clarion). Gift of Chris Loker and John Windle. © 1988 Allen Say.

Though collage is a large staple of the collection, the exhibition also features prints, acrylics, watercolors, graphite sketches and pen-and-ink drawings. For the first time, photography has entered the collection with images by George Ancona and Shelley Rotner. Thanks to generous contributions of both art and funds for purchases, the Carle has added several new names to its distinguished roster of artists. Significantly, in 2019, the museum acquired Remy Charlip’s picture book archive; two paintings from his popular Fortunately (1964) will be on display.

Visit the website for the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and see its dedicated page for The Carle Collection: Recent Acquisitions.

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art