The Frick Pittsburgh Presents Draw Me A Story: A Century Of Children's Book Illustration

Family-friendly exhibition on view through May 20, 2012 features wonderful art created for children's books

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Saturday, February 11, Draw Me a Story: A Century of Children's Book Illustration opens at the Frick Art & Historical Center. This charming exhibition composed of 40 illustrations and 13 books provides an appealing survey of drawing styles and techniques from Randolph Caldecott (1846–1886) in the 19th century to Chris Van Allsburg (b. 1949) in the 20th and 21st—with many delightful and familiar artists in between, including Ernest Shepard (1879–1976), Maurice Sendak (b. 1928), Tomie dePaola (b. 1934), and Jules Feiffer (b. 1929). The exhibition will remain on view through May 20, 2012. Admission is free.

Draw Me a Story presents a unique opportunity for the Frick to connect the interests of parents and children across time, beginning with the period of the Fricks and moving to the present day. The charm and universality of childhood are explored through pictures intended to be juxtaposed with the simplest of children's books, nursery rhymes, and ABCs, to those intended for more complex adventures and allegories designed to delight older children—such as Gulliver's Travels and The Phantom Tollbooth.

This family-friendly exhibition will be complemented by Childhood at Clayton, an adjacent exhibition drawn from the Frick's permanent collection related to growing up during the Gilded Age. Books, toys, games, clothing, and period photographs on display will inform visitors about the play time, work time, and reading interests of the Frick children—Childs, Martha and Helen, while connecting their experience to larger cultural shifts—like new attitudes towards child development, the importance of education and the emphasis on play as important to a child's growth.

Draw Me a Story is staged with artworks hung slightly lower than usual, step stools available, and reading nooks located in the galleries for visitors young and old. The illustrations include detailed watercolors, expressive pen drawings, and experimental combinations of media. Viewers will get a sense of how an artist's vision can tell a story with a single image or bring a familiar story to life in a new way.

The Frick invites families to attend a day-long opening celebration for Draw Me a Story: A Century of Children's Book Illustration and Childhood at Clayton on Saturday, February 11, 2012 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. This event is open to the public, and admission is free. More information regarding these exhibitions and related programs is available at www.TheFrickPittsburgh.org.

Draw Me a Story: A Century of Children's Book Illustrations was organized by the Cartoon Museum, San Francisco.

Draw Me a Story: A Century of Children's Book Illustration is a program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Support for the Pittsburgh presentation is provided by Eat'n Park.