Exhibitions: Forever Young: Illustrations for Children's Books

October 19, 1940: The Brooklyn Museum’s plans for the greater part of the 1940-41 season and the first part of the 1941-42 season have just been announced.

The principal exhibitions of the year begin with “Art Finds a Way,” a graphic comment on the subject of skilled work, about which there is so much discussion today, and will demonstrate the great skills man has developed through the years in producing useful objects that have become recognized as objects of art. This exhibition, arranged under the direction of Dr. Herbert J. Spinden, Curator of the Department of American Indian Art and Primitive Cultures, will be made up principally from the Museum’s collections augmented by several loans. It will run from November 1 through January 2.

Also opening in November is an exhibition of Children’s Clothing, showing the development for the last 125 years and the emergence from slavish copying of adult costume into special designs for the younger generation. Materials for this exhibition will also come principally from the Museum’s collection, enhanced by a few loans. This show is being arranged by Mrs. Michelle Murphy, Supervisor of the Department of Education, and will extend from November 9 through January 12.

On the 23rd of January, “Paganism and Christianity in Egypt - The Art of Egypt from the First to the Tenth Century,” will open. It will be the first purely Coptic showing arranged in this country. This is being prepared by the Museum’s Department of Egyptology. The exhibition will close on March 9.

A show for which the Museum is internationally famous, the Biennial Water Color Exhibition, will open on March 27 and close May 11. It will be arranged under the supervision of John I. H. Baur, Curator of the Department of Painting and Sculpture.

Another exhibition arranged from the Costume collections will be a showing of millinery, past and current, from March 8 through April 20, which will also be arranged by Mrs. Michelle Murphy, Supervisor of the Department of Education.

The last large exhibition of the season will be made up of art from the printing press, to demonstrate the problems of those who are producing art every day, week and month for the great public, and the process involved in doing so. This exhibition is being arranged by a committee composed of Ralph Halker, architect, George Welp, art director, and Edward A. Wilson, illustrator, together with representatives of the Museum.

Following the Silk Screen Prints exhibition, arranged by the Print Department, which opened September 20 and will run through October 20, is “The Stage is Set”, running from October 4 through November 17, made up of reproductions of theatre, opera and ballet subjects selected from Library material. As the result of the continual work which is going on in the Photographic Department at the Museum of the printing of negatives from the George B. Brainard Collection of 2,500 views of this part of the country, a third showing of prints will be put on view October 11 and will continue through November 3.

On the 24th of October the Print Department will hang an exhibition of Current Campaign Cartoons by artists well known in this field, which will continue through December 1. During the same period but opening a day later, October 25, a gift in the form of a group of pressed glass, collected by Mrs. William Greig Walker and presented to the Museum as the result of a subscription fund, will be shown for the first time. The 138 items are all impressed with subjects relating to persons and events that held public interest in the United States, and to some extent in Europe, between 1820 and 1940. The title of the exhibition is “History in Pressed Glass.

“The Nativity in Art,” made up of reproductions of 15th Century woodcuts and medieval manuscripts, will be put on view November 22 to continue through January 5. This exhibition was arranged by Miss Alice Ford, a member of the Art Reference Library staff. A showing of Recent Accessions will open on December 5 and extend through January 12. In this same period the exhibition called “Forever Young” will be shown. The latter will be composed of illustrations for children’s books, arranged by the Print Department. January 18 through February 2 the annual showing of the work of Brooklyn artists, restricted this year to water colors, will be arranged by John I. H. Baur, Curator of the Department of Painting and Sculpture, and there will be another exhibition in January of other views of Brooklyn and Long Island from the George B. Brainard Collection, from January 9 through February 9.

For the 1941-42 season the following exhibitions are already planned: Paintings by John Quidor (1801-1881), and also a collection of works by William S. Mount (1807-1868), both arranged by John I. H. Baur, Curator of the Department of Painting and Sculpture; and “Colonial Art of Latin America,” prepared under the supervision of Dr. Herbert J. Spinden, Curator of the Department of American Indian Art and Primitive Cultures.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1939 - 1941. 10-12/1940, 181-3. View Original 1 . View Original 2 . View Original 3

December 6, 1940: A selection of some sixty original illustrations for children’s books by forty-one artists, issued by nineteen publishers, will constitute an exhibition arranged by the Print Department at the Brooklyn Museum, to be placed on view December 6 and continue through January 5.

The exhibition will embrace the techniques of water color, line drawing, lithography and pastel, and will also include printed illustrations for children’s books by Russian illustrators. In some cases the artist’s dummy as turned over to the publisher will be included, and some examples of the various stages in the production of illustrations for children’s books will be presented, from the first sketch through proofs to the printed result.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1939 - 1941. 10-12/1940, 244. View Original

December 6, 1940: An exhibition of some fifty original illustrations for children’s books will be placed on view by the Print Department of the Brooklyn Museum, from December 6 through January 5.

It is expected that the work of about thirty artists will be shown, in books published by twenty to twenty-five publishers. In some cases the artist’s dummy as turned over to the publisher will be included, and some examples of the various stages in the production of illustrations for children’s books will be presented, from the first sketch through proofs to the printed result.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1939 - 1941. 10-12/1940, 245. View Original

December 6, 1940: A selection of some sixty original illustrations for children’s books by forty-one artists, issued by nineteen publishers, will constitute an exhibition arranged by the Print Department at the Brooklyn Museum, to be placed on view December 6 and continue through January 5.

The exhibition will embrace the techniques of water color, line drawing, lithography and pastel, and will also include printed illustrations for children’s books by Russian illustrators. In some cases the artist’s dummy as turned over to the publisher will be included, and some examples of the various stages in the production of illustration for children’s books will be presented, from the first sketch through proofs to the printed result.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1939 - 1941. 10-12/1940, 257. View Original

December 6, 1940: Artists; Title; Lender

Marguerite de Angeli; Skippack School; Doubleday Doran and Co., Inc.
Valenti Angelo; Roller Skates; The Viking Press
de Aragon; Mario and the Chuna; Random House
Ingri and Edgar d'aulaire; Animals Everywhere; Doubleday Doran and Co., Inc.
Ingri and Edgar d'aulaire; Children of the North Lights; The Viking Press
Dorothy Bayley; Stars to Steer By; Harcourt Brace
Ludwig Bemelmans; Madeline; Julien Levy Galleries
Ludwig Bemelmans; Noodle; Julien Levy Galleries
Conrad Buff; Dancing Cloud The Navajo Boy; Viking Press
Charles Bracker; Raffy and the Honkebeast; Julian Lessner, Inc.
Wilfred S. Bronson; Children of the Sea; Harcourt Brace
L. Leslie Brooke; A Roundabout Turn; Frederick Warne and Co.
L. Leslie Brooke; Johnny Crow's Party; Frederick Warne and Co.
L. Leslie Brooke; The Story of the Three Bears; Frederick Warne and Co.
Addison Burbank; Cedar Deer; Coward McCann, Inc.
Jean Charlot; Tito's Hats; Doubleday Doran and Co., Inc.
Baroness Dombrowski; Little Jungle Village; The Viking Press
Lily Duplaux; Pedro; Harper and Brothers
Roger Duvoisin; Riema; Alfred A. Knopf
Fritz Eichenberg; Padre Porko; Holiday House
Helen Finger; Why Dogs Have Fleas; lent by the artist
Helen Finger; If You Had a Wish; lent by the artist
Lauren Ford; The Little Book About God; lent by the artist
Francoise; The Story of Colette; Charles Scribner's Sons
T. Gergely; Topsy Turvy Circus; Harper and Brothers
Hardie Gramatky; Hercules; G. P. Putnam's Sons
Hardie Gramatky; Little Toot; G. P. Putnam's Sons
Thomas Handforth; Faraway Meadow; Doubleday Doran and Co., Inc.
C. Walter Hodges; Columbus Sails; Coward McCann, Inc.
Clement Hurd; The World is Round; William R. Scott, Inc.
B. Latham; The Silver Dollar; Harper and Brothers
Dorothy P. Lathrop; Star To Night; lent by the artist
Dorothy P. Lathrop; The Nativity; lent by the artist
Dorothy P. Lathrop; Bouncing Betsy; lent by the artist
Dorothy P. Lathrop; Hide and Go Seek; lent by the artist
Robert Lawson; Just For Fun; Rand, McNally and Co.
Munro Leaf; John Henry Davis; Frederick A. Stokes and Co.
Elizabeth MacKinstry; The Snow Queen; Coward McCann, Inc.
Katherine Milhous; Lovina; Charles Scribner's Sons
Nura; Garden of Betty and Booth; lent by the artist
Maud and Miska Petersham; Poppy Seed Cakes; Doubleday Doran and Co., Inc.
James Reid; Not Really; Coward McCann, Inc.
Jessie Robinson; The Buttons go Walking Russian Illustrations for Children's Books; J. B. Neuman
Carlos Sanchez; Perez and Martina; Frederick Warne and Co.
Kate Seredy; The Singing Tree; The Viking Press
Kate Seredy; The Good Master; The Viking Press
Kate Seredy; An Ear for Uncle Emil; The Viking Press
Serebriakoff; Belgium; Harper and Brothers
Dr. Seuss; The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins; The Vanguard Press
Joel Stolper; Patchee; Harcourt Brace
Susanne Suba; A Pint of Judgment; lent by the artist
Susanne Suba; String and the No Tail Cat; lent by the artist
Kurt Wiese; Joan and the Three Deer; lent by the artist
Kurt Wiese; Donkey Bells; lent by the artist
Kurt Wiese; Cow Hand Goes to Town; lent by the artist
Kurt Wiese; Liang and Lo; lent by the artist
Kurt Wiese; Toco Toucan; Harper and Brothers
Kurt Wiese; The Rabbit's Revenge; Coward McCann, Inc.
Kurt Wiese; Karaoo the Kangaroo; Coward McCann, Inc.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1939 - 1941. 10-12/1940, 258-9. View Original 1 . View Original 2