The Art of Dr. Seuss Collection - 20th Anniversary Collection - Exhibit Catalogue

2 0 TH A N N I V E R S A R Y C E L E B R AT I O N

F R I DAY J U LY 20 – SU N DAY J U LY 2 2 · 10 a m - 10 p m CU R ATORIAL RECE P TION S: Friday, July 20 7 pm to 10 pm Saturday, July 21 7 pm to 10 pm Sunday, July 22 1 pm to 4 pm

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His artistic vision emerged as the golden thread that linked every facet of his varied career, and his artwork became the platform from which he delivered forty-four children’s books, more than 400 World War II political cartoons, hundreds of advertisements, and countless editorials filled with wonderfully inventive animals, characters, and humor.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, began his career as a little-known editorial cartoonist in the 1920s. His intriguing perspective and fresh concepts ignited his career, and his work evolved quickly to deft illustrations, modeled sculptures, and sophisticated oil paintings of elaborate imagination. His artistic vision emerged as the golden thread that linked every facet of his varied career, and his artwork became the platform from which he delivered forty-four children’s books, more than 400 World War II political cartoons, hundreds of advertisements, and countless editorials filled with wonderfully inventive animals, characters, and humor.

Geisel single-handedly forged a new genre of art that falls somewhere between the surrealist movement of the early 20th century and the inspired nonsense of a child’s classroom doodles. The Art of Dr. Seuss project offers a rare glimpse into the artistic life of this celebrated American icon and chronicles almost seven decades of work that, in every respect, is uniquely, stylistically, and endearingly Seussian.

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Earth Friendly Lorax 46” x 19” Serigraph on Eco-Friendly Stonehenge Paper Dr. Seuss considered The Lorax his favorite book. His volume stands as a lasting tribute to those who speak up for the environment, and to the numerous personal, corporate, and societal strides being made to safeguard our natural world. Shortly before his death in 1991, Ted was asked if there was anything left unsaid. He pondered the question and finally responded, “The best slogan I can think of to leave with the U.S.A. would be: ‘We can . . . and we’ve got to . . . do better than this.’”

Horton Line Drawing 15” x 21” Pigment Print on Paper Audrey Geisel allowed the Horton Line Drawing to be published for the first time in association with the Art of Dr. Seuss Retrospective and International Touring Exhibition, which was launched in 2004. Horton’s seminal proclamations: “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful one hundred percent.” and “a person’s a person no matter how small,” forever define his character. To this day, Horton remains a lasting symbol of loyalty, equality, and faithfulness.

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Lorax Book Cover 27” x 22” Lithograph on Paper Dr. Seuss considered The Lorax his favorite book. His volume stands as a lasting tribute to those who speak up for the environment, and to the numerous personal, corporate, and societal strides being made to safeguard our natural world. Shortly before his death in 1991, Ted was asked if there was anything left unsaid. He pondered the question and finally responded, “The best slogan I can think of to leave with the U.S.A. would be: ‘We can . . . and we’ve got to . . . do better than this.’”

Oh, The Stuff You Will Learn 14.5” x 17” Serigraph on Paper Perhaps the defining book of Ted Geisel’s colossal career, The Cat in the Hat came into being when Houghton Mifflin asked him to write and illustrate a child’s primer using only 225 “new-reader” vocabulary words. In the decades since, Dr. Seuss has become the definitive children’s literacy author of all time (over 600,000,000 books sold) and Ted’s Cat continues to “step out,” enjoying his rightful legacy as the visual icon of our literary past, present and future.

Sam-I-Am Diptych 14.75” x 20.5” Serigraph on Coventry Rag Paper Green Eggs and Ham was born out of a fifty-dollar wager between Dr. Seuss and his publisher, Bennett Cerf, who bet he couldn’t write an articulate, entertaining book using only 50 different words. The result was a 62-page volume composed of 49 monosyllabic words and a fiftieth three-syllable word “anywhere.” When Cerf heard Ted’s first reading of the book, he seemed dazed, shaking his head over the clear triumph of Green Eggs and Ham, which had begun as their private joke. Although he conceded the fifty-dollar bet, Ted cheerily “complained” throughout his life that Cerf never paid up. A small price for what ultimately became a national treasure.

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These Things are Good Things - Diptych 23.5” x 32.5” Pigment Print on Paper The August 13, 2007, issue of U.S. News & World Report declared 1957 to be “A Year that Changed America.” The article focused on 10 disparate events including one called: The Birth of a Famous Feline. It read in part: “In the 50 years since The Cat in the Hat exploded onto the children’s book scene, Theodor Seuss Geisel has become a central character in the American literary mythology, sharing the pantheon with the likes of Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Of his many imaginative stories, The Cat in the Hat remains the most iconic.”

Green Eggs and Ham 17.5” x 14” Cover Text Lithograph on Coventry Rag Paper Green Eggs and Ham was born out of a fifty-dollar wager between Dr. Seuss and his publisher, Bennett Cerf, who bet he couldn’t write an articulate, entertaining book using only fifty different words. The result was a 62-page volume composed of 49 monosyllabic words and a fiftieth three-syllable word “anywhere.” When Cerf heard Ted’s first reading of the book, he seemed dazed, shaking his head over the clear triumph of Green Eggs and Ham, which had begun as their private joke. Although he conceded the fifty-dollar bet, Ted cheerily “complained” throughout his life that Cerf never paid up. A small price for what ultimately became a national treasure.

We Looked! Then We Saw Him - Diptych 12.5” x 15” Serigraph on Black Stonehenge Paper The August 13, 2007, issue of U.S. News & World Report declared 1957 to be “A Year that Changed America.” The article focused on 10 disparate events including one called: The Birth of a Famous Feline. It read in part: “In the 50 years since The Cat in the Hat exploded onto the children’s book scene, Theodor Seuss Geisel has become a central character in the American literary mythology, sharing the pantheon with the likes of Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Of his many imaginative stories, The Cat in the Hat remains the most iconic.”

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A Prayer for a Child 31.25” x 37.25” Serigraph on Canvas A Prayer for a Child, Dr. Seuss’s painting with its accompanying poem were printed in Collier’s on December 23, 1955. This work, stunning in its vibrant colors and captivating in its galactic point of view, was painted from the perspective of one child’s small place in the universe. The prayer reads: “From here on earth, from my small place, I ask of You way out in space: Please tell all men in every land | what You and I both understand. Please tell all men that peace is good. That’s all that need be understood | in every world in Your great sky. We understand. Both You and I.”

After Dark in the Park 43.5”. x 34” Mixed Media on Canvas In 1927, Dr. Seuss landed a New York City job with Judge magazine, a weekly satire coveted for its full-color political cartoons. Ted’s unique artistic vision captured the attention of several leading magazines as he went on to create five front covers for Judge alone. The magical middle ground between Ted’s first professionally published cartoon in 1927 and the publication of his first children’s book in 1937 occurs on the June 1933 cover of Judge. Here you not only witness a illustrator hitting his artistic stride on the way to becoming America’s most successful children’s book author, but you also get a preview of his beloved repertoire of bestiary to come.

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Cuddle Fish 29” x 37” Pigment Print on Paper The collection’s curator, Bill Dreyer, wrote in the preface to Secrets of the Deep: “While researching Ted’s paintings and sculpture at his La Jolla home, I became aware that Ted and Audrey kept more than 40 artworks behind a concealed false door that were publicly unknown and unpublished, all waiting for Audrey to reveal them to Ted’s fans.” Cuddle Fish is one of these artworks. In the vein of the Horton Line Drawing, this work exudes classic Seussian charm and confirms the Good Doctor’s breezy artistic style.

Every Girl Should Have a Unicorn 34” x 27” Serigraph on Archival Panel By the time Dr. Seuss arrived in Paris in 1926, the surrealist movement had already become a force with its first group show Exposition Surréaliste taking place in 1925. Joan Miró and Paul Klee would show solo in Paris that year, then Yves Tanguy in 1927.

Ted, in the right place at the right time, considered Paris the exhilarating axis of his world and absorbed anything the arts offered. This early and powerful influence of surrealism stayed with Ted throughout his life and is beautifully realized here in Every Girl Should Have a Unicorn.

Fooling Nobody 44” x 32” Serigraph on Canvas Fooling Nobody has all the characteristics of an accomplished surrealist painting, yet also illustrates Dr. Seuss’s unique ability to convey an important message. Ted seems to suggest that no matter how big, inflated, or different the image we may try to portray is, in the end being ourselves is most important—for despite heroic efforts, we are really fooling nobody.

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Green Cat with Lights 40.5” x 28.5” Mixed Media on Canvas Dr. Seuss’s mischievously signed Green Cat with Lights “Stroogo Von M.” But why? Audrey Geisel had the answer: “Oh, Ted liked to hang that artwork in the entryway of Seuss House. When people would come in, they would invariably ask about the painting. Ted would answer, ‘That’s my Stroogo Von M. How do you like it?’ In return, what he would get from friends was an honest opinion without them knowing it was his painting.” On at least one occasion, a guest replied, “Oh yes, I’ve heard of Stroogo Von M.”

Fox in Socks 50th Anniversary Commemorative 55” x 26” Serigraph on Coventry Rag Paper For 50 years, the flyleaf of Fox in Socks—Dr. Seuss’s 1965 charmer—has warned: “Take it slowly. This Book is Dangerous!” This wonderfully colorful Seussian tonguetwister was designed to help children get their mouths around language. That it certainly did!

From Random House’s “I Can Read It All By Myself Beginner Books Series,” Ted’s story features two main characters, an anthropomorphic “Fox” and “Knox,” Who speak almost entirely in densely rhyming tongue-twisters. After introducing Fox and Knox, as well as props, box and socks, Dr. Seuss takes these four rhyming items through several permutations, adding more items as he goes along. This prompts Knox to complain every so often about the difficulty of the tongue-twisters.

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Horton Hears a Who 60th Anniversary Commemorative 29” x 32” Serigraph on Paper Dr. Seuss had a fascination with animals that began when he was two years old and the family moved to the Fairfield Street house that would be Ted’s home until leaving for Dartmouth. From his open bedroom window, Ted could hear the night cries of animals at the Springfield Zoo in nearby Forest Park. It wouldn’t be long before excursions to the Zoo were a regular occurrence for Ted and his sketchpad—that’s when fascination turned to love.

In Horton Hatches the Egg (1940), the compassionate pachyderm named Horton was born. Then in 1954 with the publication of Horton Hears a Who!, this classic creature, with his soulful eyes skyrocketed into one of the most heroic children’s book characters of all time. To this day Horton remains a lasting symbol of equality, faithfulness, and humanity.

King of the Pond 50th Anniversary Commemorative 67” x 38” Serigraph on Paper The 1958 book, Yertle the Turtle, has a little-known and somewhat surprising origin.

In a 1987 interview Ted said: “Yertle was Hitler or Mussolini. Originally, Yertle had a moustache, but I took it off.” During the run-up to WWII, FDR was battling the isolationist “America First” supporters who were seeking to keep us out of the war.

Ted believed American isolationism was not an option and that Hitler needed to be stopped. He fought these battles with hundreds of WWII editorial cartoons during 1941 and 1942, and ultimately with his service in the Army as a captain in Frank Capra’s celebrated wartime documentary filmmaking unit.

Martini Bird 30” x 21” Pigment Print on Somerset Paper Audrey Geisel allowed Martini Bird to be published for the first time in association with the Art of Dr. Seuss Retrospective and International Touring Exhibition, which was launched in 2004.

Four additional artworks were also offered as Tour Editions by galleries hosting the exhibition: Waterfall, Happy Grasshopper on a Mushroom, Sunbathing Bird, and Horton Line Drawing.

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SECRET ART & THE GEISEL ARCHIVE Relaxed in Spite of It 34.75” x 53.5” Serigraph on Paper Everyone should have a peaceful place—an escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Relaxed in Spite of It depicts a family nestled away from it all atop a tower reminiscent of Dr. Seuss’s famed Tower Studio where, for 43 years, he happily worked his magic.

Secrets of the Octopus

Sawfish with Such a Long Snout 17” x 30” Serigraph on Coventry Rag Paper

22.625” x 29.75” Serigraph on Coventry Rag Paper Excerpted from Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel. It was in the post World War II literary climate that “Ted began painting in watercolor to illustrate McElligot’s Pool, his first book in seven years. McElligot’s Pool became a Junior Literary Guild selection, and its art brought Ted his first Caldecott citation. For McElligot’s Pool Ted chose to ‘exaggerate within a logical sequence’ in creating an underwater world that would be plausible to a child. With a more formal style and beauty than previous Dr. Seuss books, it became treasured by artists.”

Secrets of the Deep 22.625” x 29.75” Serigraph on Coventry Rag Paper

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Self Portrait of the Artist Worrying About His Next Book 26” x 22” Serigraph on Canvas When an artist does a self-portrait, inevitably it’s the back-story that is a secret window into the creative mind behind a renowned body of work. SelfPortrait of the Artist Worrying about His Next Book (1959) is a great piece of whimsy that portrays Dr. Seuss’s quandary of what to do after the huge success of The Cat in the Hat and How The Grinch Stole Christmas! He shouldn’t have worried—Green Eggs and Ham came next.

The Cat That Changed The World 45.9” x 39” Mixed Media on Paper When The Cat in the Hat first stepped into our lives and onto the world stage in 1957, Ellen Goodman of The Detroit Free Press wrote that it was “a little volume of absurdity that worked like a karate chop on the weary little world of Dick, Jane and Spot.” Perhaps the defining book of Ted Geisel’s colossal career, The Cat in the Hat came into being when Houghton Mifflin asked him to write and illustrate a child’s primer using only 225 “new-reader” vocabulary words.

Ted’s success at being able to fulfill this mandate not only changed the way generations of children would learn to read, but also freed future writers from the bonds of literary conventions.

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The Sneetches 50th Anniversary Commemorative 79” x 37.5” Serigraph on Paper The brilliant tale of The Sneetches, some with stars on their bellies and some without, tackles the persistently complex issue of tolerance and racial prejudice, and ingeniously imparts lessons on social justice and the senselessness of discrimination. The Sneetches book is widely used today as a teaching aid to instill a caring sense of fairness and equality for all.

The Rather Odd Myopic Woman Riding Piggyback on One of Helen’s Many Cats 46.25” x 28.25” Serigraph on Paper Dr. Seuss was keenly aware of the many cultural and artistic movements which took shape throughout his career. In fact, his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts hosted one of this country’s first surrealist exhibitions, which no doubt had a lifelong impact on Seuss. Myopic Woman is unmistakably Seuss, but at the same time is a nod and a wink to cubists Picasso and Braque, as well as surrealists Miró, Magritte, and Dalí.

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Wisdom of the Orient Cat

Tower of Babel

44” x 22” Serigraph on Archival Canvas

43.75” x 31.75” Serigraph on Board

In Wisdom of the Orient Cat, Ted Geisel blends the ancient philosophical and spiritual elements of the Orient into a commanding, yet serene artwork. The term “Wisdom of the Orient” refers to a synthesis of beliefs and practices which includes the inspired contemplations of ancient Chinese proverbs. Seuss’s artistic intelligence provides poise and presence to these concepts, while avoiding the cartoonish pitfalls of merging the serious with the surreal, traps in which lesser artists are often found.

Dr. Seuss became the great artistic recycler– an exemplary model of efficiency and resource conservation, never throwing out a doodle, a verse, or an offhanded notation of an idea. A scrap of paper from 1926 could be the catalyst for a major book 40 years later, a composition from an early editorial project the basis for a significant painting. Ted used many of the components in his short-lived 1935 “Hejji” comic strip in this elaborate painting–Tower of Babel.

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Andulovian Grackler 19.5” x 6.5” x 13.75” Hand Cast Painted Resin Sculpture In 1938, Paul Jerman, who had graduated from Dartmouth with Ted, wrote a brief biography of him for the alumni newspaper. Jerman said in part, “Another iron in the fire is what the doctor himself calls ‘The Seuss System of Unorthodox Taxidermy.’ Not satisfied with drawing strange beasties, Ted modeled the heads of some of his animals and mounted them. Put on display in bookshops around New York to promote ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,’ many people wanted to buy the weird animal heads.”

Shortly after Ted created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Dr. Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on UnheardOf Animals.” To this day, Ted’s Collection of Unorthodox Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multidimensional creativity.

Goo-Goo Eyed Tasmanian Wolghast 17.75” x 15.25” x 15” Hand-Painted Cast Resin Sculpture In 1938, Paul Jerman, who had graduated from Dartmouth with Ted, wrote a brief biography of him for the alumni newspaper. Jerman said in part, “Another iron in the fire is what the doctor himself calls ‘The Seuss System of Unorthodox Taxidermy.’ Not satisfied with drawing strange beasties, Ted modeled the heads of some of his animals and mounted them. Put on display in bookshops around New York to promote ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,’ many people wanted to buy the weird animal heads.”

Shortly after Ted created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Dr. Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on UnheardOf Animals.” To this day, Ted’s Collection of Unorthodox Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multidimensional creativity.

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Mulberry Street Unicorn 14” x 7” x 9.5” Hand-Painted Cast Resin Sculpture In 1938, Paul Jerman, who had graduated from Dartmouth with Ted, wrote a brief biography of him for the alumni newspaper. Jerman said in part, “Another iron in the fire is what the doctor himself calls ‘The Seuss System of Unorthodox Taxidermy.’ Not satisfied with drawing strange beasties, Ted modeled the heads of some of his animals and mounted them. Put on display in bookshops around New York to promote ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,’ many people wanted to buy the weird animal heads.”

Shortly after Ted created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Dr. Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on UnheardOf Animals.” To this day, Ted’s Collection of Unorthodox Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multidimensional creativity.

Kangaroo Bird 22.5” x 9.5” x 17.5” Hand-Painted Cast Resin Sculpture Dr. Seuss’s original Kangaroo Bird appeared on the December 19, 2005 “Wild Things” episode of Antiques Roadshow. Fourteen years earlier, a woman had paid $60 for it as part of a “box lot.” Thinking it might be a Seuss sculpture, she wrote to Ted and sent photos. He wrote a terrific letter back. Here is what the appraiser says: “That’s right. He actually authenticated his own sculpture, which I think is just amazing. Here, he talks about how it was something he created in the late 1930s. I’ve never seen anything like it. The only ones that I’ve seen have been in books, obviously in very private collections, probably of the family. To find one at an auction is just truly incredible. Dr. Seuss is an icon of universal proportions—big time. I mean, you’re talking about pop culture. You know, you’re talking about comic collectibles. You’re talking about everything. It all converges in this piece. It’s just an amazing, amazing piece. It’s truly remarkable.”

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U N O R T H O D OX TA X I D E R M Y Powerless Puffer 7.75” x 13.75” x 11” Hand-Painted Cast Resin Sculpture Every January, the National Boat Show is held in New York City.

In 1937, Standard Oil wanted something elaborate from Dr. Seuss for the show. Ted topped his previous efforts by using a collection of his seven Marine Muggs sculptures for the Essomarine booth.

The January 1937 issue of Yachting Magazine highlighted their appearance: “From the briny depths of the imagination of the famous designer, Dr. Seuss, whose murals have been a feature of Essomarine’s recent Show exhibits, comes a collection of the weirdest denizens of the deep ever imagined in the wildest nightmare of a skipper. The anatomy and peculiar appearance of certain of these creatures have caused so much speculation that their origin has at last been divulged. It is said that many of these monstrosities were sighted in out of the way spots by Seuss Admirals and reported to Admiral-in-Chief Seuss during the course of a year’s cruising.”

Sawfish 8” x 27” x 3” Hand-Painted Cast Resin Sculpture In 1938, Paul Jerman, who had graduated from Dartmouth with Ted, wrote a brief biography of him for the alumni newspaper. Jerman said in part, “Another iron in the fire is what the doctor himself calls ‘The Seuss System of Unorthodox Taxidermy.’ Not satisfied with drawing strange beasties, Ted modeled the heads of some of his animals and mounted them.

Put on display in bookshops around New York to promote ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,’ many people wanted to buy the weird animal heads.”

Shortly after Ted created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Dr. Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on Unheard-Of Animals.” To this day, Ted’s Collection of Unorthodox Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multidimensional creativity.

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Sea-Going Dilemma Fish 36” x 21” x 14” Hand-Painted Resin Sculpture Every January, the National Boat Show is held in New York City. In 1937, Standard Oil wanted something elaborate from Dr. Seuss for the show.

Ted topped his previous efforts by using a collection of his seven Marine Muggs sculptures for the Essomarine booth.

The January 1937 issue of Yachting Magazine highlighted their appearance: “From the briny depths of the imagination of the famous designer, Dr. Seuss, whose murals have been a feature of Essomarine’s recent Show exhibits, comes a collection of the weirdest denizens of the deep ever imagined in the wildest nightmare of a skipper. The anatomy and peculiar appearance of certain of these creatures have caused so much speculation that their origin has at last been divulged. It is said that many of these monstrosities were sighted in out of the way spots by Seuss Admirals and reported to Admiral-in-Chief Seuss during the course of a year’s cruising.”

The Sea-Going Dilemma Fish is one of the seven “Marine Muggs.”

Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn 23” x 30” x 13” Hand-Painted Cast Resin Sculpture In 1938, Paul Jerman, who had graduated from Dartmouth with Ted, wrote a brief biography of him for the alumni newspaper. Jerman said in part, “Another iron in the fire is what the doctor himself calls ‘The Seuss System of Unorthodox Taxidermy.’ Not satisfied with drawing strange beasties, Ted modeled the heads of some of his animals and mounted them. Put on display in bookshops around New York to promote ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,’ many people wanted to buy the weird animal heads.”

Shortly after Ted created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Dr. Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on Unheard-Of Animals.” To this day, Ted’s Collection of Unorthodox Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multidimensional creativity.

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