Covered with Vines: The Many Talents of Ludwig Bemelmans |
|
September 1, 2015, Volume 62, No. 03 |
|
(Above) Ludwig Bemelmans, detail of cover mock-up for Madeline (ca. 1939), Jean Johnson Kislak Collection, ©Ludwig Bemelmans, LLC. Eight Madeline books are included in the current exhibition now at the Library. |
Covered with Vines: The Many Talents of Ludwig Bemelmans is on exhibit now through December 21 at the Goldstein Family Gallery, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library, sixth floor.
Although she was the smallest of the little girls who lived under the care of Miss Clavel in that Parisian house, Madeline has grown up, in the years since her birth in 1939, to overshadow everything else her creator, Ludwig Bemelmans, accomplished during his long, varied and highly productive career. Based on both the collection formed by Jean Kislak, a Madeline aficionado, and Penn’s own Bemelmans collections, this exhibition displays printed books, manuscripts and art to recover a Bemelmans now largely forgotten, while also celebrating Madeline.
In three parts devoted to Bemelmans as writer, Bemelmans as artist and Bemelmans as creator of Madeline, we consider Ludwig Bemelmans’s multiple careers. Restaurateur and hotelier, soldier, memoirist, short story writer, novelist, travel writer, script writer, cartoonist, illustrator, commercial artist, painter—all of Bemelmans’s other personal and artistic endeavors, including even his other children’s books, have disappeared beneath the towering success of Madeline. All deserve a second look. Neither Madeline as character nor Madeline as book came out of nothing. Penn’s exhibition hopes to remove some of the vines that prevent a clearer view of the multi-talented artist who was her source.
The exhibition contains selections of Bemelmans’ writings and illustrations for both adults and children. Included in the display are books (eight are Madeline), letters, manuscripts and original artwork.
Exhibition Remarks and Reception will take place on Wednesday, October 14 at 5 p.m.
Homecoming Weekend events will take place on Saturday, November 7 and will include readings of Madeline books and the Homecoming Gallery Hop.
For more information on these events and to register for them, visit http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/bemelmans.html
|