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© Pat the Bunny |
WHAT'S NEW
DOROTHY KUNHARDT'S PAT THE BUNNY TO BE FEATURED AT THE CARLE
Exhibition will open in Amherst, Massachusetts on May 16, 2008
Amherst, Mass. (March 20, 2008) - The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. will welcome to its Central Gallery the original art from Dorothy Kunhardt's Pat the Bunny. The exhibition will include the handmade prototype of Pat the Bunny, fashioned by Mrs. Kunhardt in 1939, on view for the first
time as well as other original art and process materials; personal photographs and correspondence during the time period; and early reviews and advertisements for Pat the Bunny, on loan from the archives of the Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation. The exhibition will run from May 16 through December 7, 2008.
Pat the Bunny has sold over 7 million copies since it was first published in 1940 and is the 6th all-time best-selling children's book in America. Dorothy Kunhardt was already a widely successful children's book writer and illustrator, and mother of four, when she cut and pasted together her idea for an interactive book for babies and young children, inspired by her 3-year-old daughter.
"It's like seeing the Rosetta Stone," Museum Director Nick Clark states upon seeing the modest, original version of the book, "we are honored to have the opportunity and privilege to exhibit a book so transformative in opening a childÕs eyes to reading through touch." The exhibition also includes
unpublished ink and watercolor illustrations Kunhardt considered for her 18-page classic. One is a whimsical picture of Judy galloping as she plays horse, with a colorful, braided cotton bridle for the "reader" to hold. The exhibit also features the first, second, and third editions of Pat the Bunny, which
have early illustrations that were later replaced. The original dummy copy of The Telephone Book, the equally charming, interactive sequel to Pat the Bunny, will also be on view.
Dorothy Kunhardt transformed words and pictures into familiar activities, like playing peek-a-boo, touching "Daddy's scratchy beard," and patting the soft fur of a toy bunny. Kunhardt gave the pleasure of books to the very youngest of pre-readers, and in the process, created the ground-breaking
genre of "Touch and Feel" books. Today, Pat the Bunny is promoted by the US Department of Education on "How to Help Your Child Become a Reader" and has served as a selection for the "I am Your Child" program, a National Public Awareness campaign devoted to making childhood development a top priority in the United States.
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The Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation Announces its New Division, "The Gordon Parks Foundation" to Preserve the Legacy of Gordon Parks
The Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation (MKF) announced that it has created a new division called The Gordon Parks Foundation, which will be dedicated to the preservation of photographer, author and film director Gordon Parks¹ ground-breaking creative work. Parks is known to many for his photo essays in Life magazine, his direction of the 1971 film Shaft, and for his autobiography The Learning Tree.
Parks was a poet, a composer and in 1969 became the first African American to direct a major Hollywood production, which was a film adaptation of The Learning Tree. Gordon Parks died in March 2006 and was a very close friend of MKF Founder and former Life magazine managing editor Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., who died just two weeks later.
Parks and Kunhardt first met as colleagues at Life magazine in the early 1950s were they became close friends sharing the same passion for photography. Through the years their friendship grew and now their love of photography and the arts will be carried on through MKF and the Gordon Parks Foundation. The Gordon Parks Collection will be managed by Peter Kunhardt, the son of Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr.
"It is an honor to preserve the work and legacy of Gordon Parks who was not only an American treasure but a friend," said Peter Kunhardt, President of The Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation. "I am pleased that my father's vast collection and his best friend's work will be preserved together."
"This is exactly what Gordon hoped for," said Gene Young, his former wife and executor of his estate. "His work will be in good hands and we are all going to work hard to make it available for future generations."
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