Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors at The Morgan Library on artrepublic.com
Exhibition running from Sep 19 2008
until Jan 04 2009
The creation of Babar, the protagonist of a family bedtime story that began one of the most successful children's series of all time, is the focus of a new exhibition on view only at The Morgan Library & Museum. Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors includes more than 170 works, with manuscript drafts, sketches, and watercolors for the first book by each of Babar's two authors, father and son Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff. The exhibition explores the working methods of these two men, who, fifteen years and a generation apart, created an iconic fictional character, French in style but universal in spirit, whose green suit and yellow crown have become recognizable to children and adults throughout the world. Drawing Babar features an extraordinary series of drawings and manuscript material acquired by the Morgan in 2004, including nearly all surviving working drafts for Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant (The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, 1931), the first book by Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937), and for Babar et ce coquina d'Arthur (Babar's Cousin: That Rascal Arthur, 1946), the first book written and illustrated by Laurent de Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937), Brunhoff (b. 1925), Jean's son. The development of such memorable episodes as the marriage of Babar and Celeste and the purchase of his signature green suit is traced from preliminary pencil sketches to splendid finished watercolors. "The universality of Babar is such that we forget the character rose from a blank sheet of paper as an artistic and literary creation," said William M.Griswold, director of The Morgan Library & Museum. "To see the process of inventing Babar at its earliest stages is truly marvelous, and all who tour this exhibition will forever view this familiar figure in a new light." "The Story of Babar has found its final home in a city far from Celesteville and far from Paris but where we think Babar will feel very comfortable," said Laurent de Brunhoff, speaking of the gift to the Morgan that he and his brothers, Mathieu and Thierry, made of a portion of Jean de Brunhoff's work. "Since I came to live in America in 1985 and got to know its cultural institutions, The Morgan Library & Museum, with its extraordinary collection of manuscripts and materials focused on the history of the book, has seemed the right place for The Story of Babar. The gift is an expression of my love for and an act of homage to my father." OPENING HOURS: Tue - Thur: 10.00 - 17.00, Fri: 10.30 - 22.00, Sat: 10.00 - 18.00, Sun: 11.00 - 18.00 Image Credits: Jean de Brunhoff (1899–1937), Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant (The Story of Babar), 1931Final watercolor for the front cover, 14 1/8 x 10 3/8 in. (36 x 26.5 cm) The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of Laurent, Mathieu, and Thierry de Brunhoff, and purchased with the assistance of The Florence Gould Foundationand the Acquisitions Fund, Fellows Endowment Fund, Gordon N. Ray Fund, and Heineman Fund, 2004. Jean de Brunhoff (1899–1937) “Then he buys himself . . . a suite of becoming shade of green.”Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant (The Story of Babar), 1931Final watercolor, 14 1/8 x 20 3/4 in. (36 x 53 cm)The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of Laurent, Mathieu, and Thierry de Brunhoff, and purchased with the assistance of The Florence Gould Foundationand the Acquisitions Fund, Fellows Endowment Fund, Gordon N. Ray Fund, and Heineman Fund, 2004 Jean de Brunhoff (1899–1937) “Marriage and coronation of King Babar and Queen Celeste.”Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant (The Story of Babar), 1931, Pencil study.13 ½ x 10 ½ in. (34.5 x 26.9 cm)The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of Laurent, Mathieu, and Thierry de Brunhoff, and purchased with the assistance of The Florence Gould Foundationand the Acquisitions Fund, Fellows Endowment Fund, Gordon N. Ray Fund, and Heineman Fund, 20 Jean de Brunhoff (1899–1937 )“Marriage and coronation of King Babar and Queen Celeste.”Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant (The Story of Babar), 1931, Final watercolor14 1/8 x 10 3/8 in. (36 x 26.5 cm) The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of Laurent, Mathieu, and Thierry de Brunhoff, and purchased with the assistance of The Florence Gould Foundationand the Acquisitions Fund, Fellows Endowment Fund, Gordon N. Ray Fund, and Heineman Fund, 20  |
