ABCs of Art

Steig Exhibit

We saw the William Steig exhibit at the Jewish Museum today. The exhibit is fun and worth the trip. To me, the most remarkable parts were as follows:

1) At the start of the exhibit, there is a glass showcase full of black and white doodles that Steig gave to his daughter. His daughter made a small cardboard box to hold the drawings, and the box is included in the display. It appears, though I couldn’t tell for sure, that the box still contains more doodles. I was desperate to see what remained in the box.

The doodles are quirky and whimsical, and I love that he made them for his daughter. I checked the bookstore to see if there was a catalogue available of the entire doodle collection. I couldn’t find such a catalogue, but someone should make one.

2) Steig, who is left-handed, made a quite passable drawing with his right hand (see above picture). I’m not sure why he did this, but it is impressive nonetheless.

The exhibit also contains some of Steig's New Yorker Cartoons and children's book illustrations (i.e. Abel's Island and Shrek ). I much prefer Steig's Shrek drawings to the 3-D Dreamworks animation. I would be interested to see the Shrek movie reanimated using Steig's illustrations.