Magician of the Modern: The Art of Leonard Weisgard

Description

Magician of the Modern: The Art of Leonard Weisgard Through June 5, 2016 Leonard Weisgard (1916-2000) was an award-wining illustrator of over 200 children?s books. He is perhaps best remembered for his productive collaboration with author Margaret Wise Brown, beginning with their popular Noisy Books series (1939). Influenced by both mid-century modernism and American folk art, Weisgard incorporated different media- gouache, poster paint, crayon, chalk, decoupage, stenciling, and pen and ink?to create a new kind of children's book. Weisgard won the Caldecott Medal in 1947 for The Little Island, the product of another partnership with Wise Brown. He worked with other authors and wrote a handful of books himself. Original art from Cinderella (1939), Red Light/Green Light (1944), The Little Island (1946), The Golden Egg Book (1947), Pelican Here/Pelican There (1948), The Important Book (1949), and The Funny Bunny Factory (1950), among others, will be on display. The Museum recently restored twenty seminal paintings by Weisgard to their original splendor; they will make their public debut in the exhibition.