artscope magazine: January/February 2010 Welcome Statement: Brian Goslow, managing editor Letters to the Editor roundtable - Three Professionals. One Question. cornered: a conversation with an art exhibition attendee FEATURED ARTIST GEORGE NICK - Reflections of an impermanent world Not Your Typical Photo Place - PHOTOPLACE GALLERY TARO SHINODA: LUNAR REFLECTIONS ODDLY PRETTY PAINTINGS - HANNAH COLE TANGIBLE EXPERIENCE: BRIAN KEITH STEPHENS Belonging and Longing - Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons: Works on Paper FIXED CHAOS at Montserrat SILENT CIRCLES: THE HEALING - Barbara Gagel FEATURE - Evolution: Five Decades of Printmaking by David Driskell FEATURE - Historic Japanese Kiri-E and Contemporary Tibetan Thangka GOLDEN LEGACY: Original Art From 65 Years Of Golden Books DECEIVINGLY SIMPLE - Charles Duback: Collages EMMA AMOS: HEROES AND FOLK GHOSTS OF THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: ZUGUNRUHE wanderlust - The (Right) Brainpower Triangle: The Finest Free Art in Somerville and Cambridge community - THE KATE: A Little Gem With A Movie Star Name industry focus - BUY WHAT YOU LOVE education - SPACE TO DISCOVER: MASSART/FAWC LOW RESIDENCY MFA Capsule Previews

GOLDEN LEGACY: Original Art From 65 Years Of Golden Books Tony Maroulis Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art 125 West Bay Road Amherst, Massachusetts;/br> Through February 28 I DON’T REALLY LIKE GOLDEN BOOKS ALL THAT MUCH. I REMEMBER HAVING THEM WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, BUT I DON’T HAVE ANY PARTICULAR OR FOND RECOLLECTIONS OF THEIR STORIES OR ILLUSTRATIONS. The Golden Books that I best remember are those by Richard Scarry, known for the oversized “Biggest Book” series. Mercifully, my daughter had no use for them, although my son has recently started bringing them home from his weekly library visits. Initially, I was excited at the sight of these oversized volumes, until I had to read every labeled object in them. My preamble aside, “Golden Legacy: Original Art From 65 Years of Golden Books,” on view at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art through February, is a must see for aficionados for both the historical value of the artwork and to understand how far the art of picture books has advanced since the launch of the Golden Book imprint in 1942. Golden Books were the first mass market children’s books at an affordable 25 cents. The books played an important role in greater children’s literacy and were key in ushering in a more childcentric American consciousness, which bloomed with the writings of Benjamin Spock and advocacy for early childhood education. As often seen in mass publishing of the era, a prevalent style emerged at the imprint and can be traced throughout the show. Expressive animals and dim palettes dominate the earliest works from the 1940s and are something of a Golden Books trademark. Artists paint or fill the entire page with work and drab watercolor. One sees impossibly florid botanicals throughout. It’s almost as if Golden Books artists worked through a haze of cigarette smoke and coal fired furnaces; in any event, Technicolor, in all its glory, hadn’t impacted this stable. I imagine that they came from the black-and-white world from which I once believed my grandmother came. Among the best-known artists in the show is Garth Williams, who was also known for his illustrations in the Little House chapter books. I’m just going to write this: Williams’s art frightens me. His woodland animals appear to have the texture of scrub brushes with eerie, soulless eyes. Even more horrifying is his cover of “The Giant Golden Books Of Elves and Fairies” (1951). I’d wager that the boy on the front cover with his parted hair and freckled countenance is the inspiration for Chuckie of the “Child’s Play” films. Being reminded of Garth Williams’s influence on childhood is to know where nightmares come from. Much space in the exhibition is also reserved for Tibor Gergely. I have a soft spot for Gergely, as his “Animal Orchestra” has been a favorite of my kids. But it is true that he was a lazy talent. There’s not much attention to detail in his work, especially for one whose pages were filled with figures and fire engines alike. Perhaps this comes from his background as a Viennese caricaturist. Whatever the case, his work really doesn’t meet the standards of the modern picture book artist. The serenity of the sea finds its counterpoint in a number of bustling urban street scenes. In particular, Donald Stoltenberg’s “View from a London Bus” is a blend of architectural exactness, bolstered by its visible under drawings and nuanced passages that merge the graphic with the painterly. The scene captures the mood and rhythm of a busy afternoon street through realistic abstraction. However, amidst these works there are gems. The best piece of the show is A. Birnbaum’s exquisite illustration from 1953’s “Green Eyes.” A little gouache of a cat and a barren tree in a snowstorm, it foreshadows the coming movement toward minimalism in children’s illustrated books. It is simply perfect. Another of the best pieces is among the most ornate: Tenggren’s tiny masterpiece of a Persian miniature (with an unmistakably phallic sword, I might add). However, amidst these works there are gems. The best piece of the show is A. Birnbaum’s exquisite illustration from 1953’s “Green Eyes.” A little gouache of a cat and a barren tree in a snowstorm, it foreshadows the coming movement toward minimalism in children’s illustrated books. It is simply perfect. Another of the best pieces is among the most ornate: Tenggren’s tiny masterpiece of a Persian miniature (with an unmistakably phallic sword, I might add). The Golden Books did inspire a generation, among them one of my favorite modern picture book artists, Dan Yaccarino of “Oswald” fame. In 2003, Yaccarino had a little Golden Book of his own in “Mother Goose.” His art, however, in its brilliant colors and liberal use of white space owes so much more to the Museum’s namesake — Eric Carle — than the Golden Book artists of yesteryear. Read the entire article in our magazine pages...