A new exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) will display illustrations from children’s books which focus on pets, including originals of Clifford the Big Red Dog, Walt Disney’s Pluto and Bad Dog Marley, inspiration for the motion picture, “Marley & Me.”
“Best in Show: Animal Illustrations” runs Feb. 13 through July 5, and will feature 54 original works on loan from the University of Findlay’s Mazza Museum, home to the world’s largest collection of original art by children’s book illustrators.
“There’s just something so wonderfully creative about children’s books, and even if you don’t have children, they’re wonderful to look at,” said Carolyn Putney, chief curator and curator of Asian art. “When I read about (the illustrators’) background, every single one of them started drawing when they were children and couldn’t stop, and they just all seemed like the happiest people.”
In addition to Clifford, Pluto and Marley, visitors will enjoy cover illustrations from 1930 to the present, including “Mrs. Huggins and Her Hen Hannah” by Lydia Dabcovich, and In Bed by Margot Tomes from the book “Lysbeth and the Fire Kittens.” In all, the exhibit includes 22 dogs, 14 cats and other animals, including hens and horses.
The work from some Ohio native illustrators will even be featured.
“Best in Show” is the second TMA partnership with the Mazza Museum, the first was in 2009. Mazza draws over 11,000 visitors a year to its museum, and the collaboration helps even more discover what Mazza has to offer.
“The Toledo Museum of Art contacted us to see if we would be interested in doing another show with them,” said Ben Sapp, Mazza director. “Of course, we were excited about doing that, primarily because (TMA) is one of the finest museums in the country, but also because we’re within an hour of each other. It’s really a win-win.”
Mazza possesses over 9,000 original book illustrations and displays 350 a time in its five galleries, changing the works every June.
“What goes into creating a children’s picture book is something that you don’t truly understand or appreciate it until you see it in person,” Sapp said. “(Illustrators) have to be concerned about how the left page is going to look against the right page, so there’s so much that goes into creating the whole book, and it’s a true work of art from cover to cover.”
Located in TMA’s Gallery 18 near the main entrance, the gallery will have a reading area, allowing visitors to enjoy the art, and then read the very books for which they were crafted. A hands-on section will invite children to make their own drawings, and take part in an “I spy” game to find animals in other galleries.
The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library also has involvement, where works from its Robert L. and Posy Huebner Collection will be featured.
Once the weather warms, TMA is even looking to host an outdoor public program which will allow visitors to bring their own pets as part of the program.
The show has special meaning for Carolyn Putney, chief curator – it’s the last the Florida transplant will have organized for TMA after 37 years of employment, including a brief stint as museum interim deputy director in 2010.
“I just wanted to come up with something for families,” said Putney, who plans to remain actively involved in the industry via an art travel business and consulting. “I don’t have any pets, but my sister has a dog, and he’s just the nicest dog. He’s part of the family.”
Putney will give a free talk about the exhibition on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. in the lower level’s Little Theater.
“It wasn’t until the French, who in the 17th century thought that children should be treated differently,” said Putney. “Those first books were educational, and in the 18th and 19th century, they became more children friendly. Some of the earliest books were Aesop’s Fables and the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.”
TMA is open every day except Monday, and admission to both the museum and the new exhibit is free. Copies of some the featured books are available for purchase in the museum store. More information is available at www.toledomuseum.org.
