DESIGNERS IN THE NURSERY: A Look at Picture Books by Graphic Artists
Noted historian, curator, and critic Leonard Marcus will discuss the long and vibrant tradition of graphic artists as creators of illustrated children’s books. Highlights will include examples of work of Vladimir Lebedev, Kurt Schwitters, Leonard Weisgard, Bruno Munari, Leo Lionni, Eric Carle, and Frank Viva.

Biography:
Leonard Marcus is one of the world’s leading authorities on children’s books and their illustration. He currently reviews for The New York Times Book Review among other publications and writes “Sight Reading” a regular column on illustrated books for The Horn Book. Leonard is a three-time judge of the New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year prize, was a judge of the 1996 National Book Awards, and chairs the Eric Carle Museum’s Carle Honors lifetime achievement award committee. He has been a featured guest of ABC’s Good Morning America, BBC Radio 4, C-SPAN 2 Book TV, among other programs. In 2006, Leonard served as literary director of The Night Kitchen Radio Theater, with monthly performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., and regular broadcasts on XM Satellite Radio.

He has written over 20 books on children’s literature including: Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of The Artist and His Work (Abrams, 2013); Show Me a Story! Why Picture Books Matter (Candlewick, 2012); The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth (Random House, 2011); Storied City: A Children’s Book-Walking Tour Guide to New York City (Dutton, 2003); Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon (Harper, 1999); and, most recently, Randolph Caldecott: The Man Who Could Not Stop Drawing (Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Foster, 2013).

He has curated exhibitions on children’s books and their illustration at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, where is also a founding trustee; The New York Public Library; New School for Social Research; Vassar College Library; Boston Athenaeum; Katonah Museum of Art; and the Meridian International Center (Washington, DC). His latest exhibition, ‘The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter’ is currently on display at The New York Public Library until September, 2014 at the Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. nypl.org

For more information: leonardmarcus.com

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