art, design and curation
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
Amherst, MA
The Pursuit of Everything: Maira Kalman's Books for Children
November 10, 2019 - April 5, 2020
The Pursuit of Everything presents a colorful panorama of Maira Kalman’s picture-book career. Perhaps best known for her beautiful and quirky New Yorker covers and as a pioneering visual journalist for The New York Times, Kalman has also published 18 acclaimed children’s books. She illustrates the comic adventures of Max Stravinsky, the dog-poet in Max Makes a Million (1990), and the escapades of a gluttonous canine named Pete in What Pete Ate from A-Z ("Really!") (2001).
The exhibition features Kalman’s kaleidoscopic paintings from Next Stop Grand Central (1999) alongside illustrations from her recent publications Beloved Dog (2015) and Cake (2018). Kalman addresses important historical figures and events in Looking at Lincoln (2012), Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote (2018), and the 9/11-inspired Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey (2002). Balancing the ridiculous and the profound, Kalman’s beautifully crafted paintings and witty word play delight audiences of all ages.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/01/15/arts/stepping-into-wry-wonderful-world-maira-kalmans-childrens-books/