Elephants and Bears in Massachusetts

The current exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts looks enthralling. It’s entitled “Flights into Fantasy: The Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection of Children’s Illustration,” which is a bit of a lengthy name but which promises a treasure trove of art from the post-Victorian heyday of children’s book illustration (1880-1940).

I’m not in Massachusetts and therefore learned of the exhibit from a Magazine Antiques article (scroll halfway down the page to find the correct section); there’s also good information on the museum’s site itself. The exhibition’s title stems from the large amount of fairy pictures included, as fairy stories were a quite popular genre in England for a very long time (think of Peter Pan in 1904). In addition to fairies, featured artists include Jean de Brunhoff (Babar), Ludwig Benelmans (Madeline), Jessie Wilcox Smith (Alice in Wonderland), Johnny Gruelle (Raggedy Ann), and many others, including original decorations for Winnie-the-Pooh by Ernest Shepard.


That latter item alone should make the trip worth the while for any New Englander who can get to Amherst. The exhibit runs through October 26.