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Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors

On View September 19, 2008-January 4, 2009 at the Morgan Library & Museum

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Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors focuses on the creation of Babar, the iconic elephant king who got his start as a mother's bedtime story to two little boys. From this modest beginning, Jean de Brunhoff (1899–1937)--the boys' father--created The Story of Babar, the first book in what would become one of the most successful children's series of all time. After Jean's early death from tuberculosis, and then after WWII, son Laurent (who writes and illustrates the Babar books to this day) would continue the series with Babar's Cousin: That Rascal Arthur.

On view only at the Morgan Library & Museum, Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors is comprised of more than 170 works, including original manuscript drafts, sketches, and watercolors for the first book by each of Babar's two authors.

For your viewing pleasure, we have a sampling of works from the exhibition here. For a full review of Drawing Babar, please see Beth Gersh-Nesic's article "Babar in the Big Apple."

Images 1-12 of 25

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The Story of Babar, 1931. Preliminary design and layout, front cover.	The Story of Babar, 1931. Preliminary design and layout, back cover.	The Story of Babar, 1931. Final watercolor for the front cover.	Crayon, watercolor and graphite study for the endpapers
Final watercolor for the endpapers.	Pencil study. "Then he buys himself ... a suit of a becoming shade of green."	Pencil study 2. "Then he buys himself ... a suit of a becoming shade of green."	Final watercolor (left). "Then he buys himself ..."
Final watercolor (right). "Then he buys himself ..."	Pencil study. "Marriage and coronation of King Babar and Queen Celeste."	Pencil study 2. "Marriage and coronation of King Babar and Queen Celeste."	Final watercolor. "Marriage and coronation of King Babar and Queen Celeste."