Golden Legacy

Golden Legacy: Original Art from

80 Years of Golden Books

May 19 – July 15, 2023

Golden Legacy: Original Art from 80 Years of Golden Books,co-curated by Leonard S. Marcus and Diane Muldrow, renowned children’s book historians, chronicles the fascinating story of the creation, marketing, and worldwide impact of Little Golden Books, the most popular children’s books of all time. Developed to bring reading and book ownership to everyone, and launched during the dark days of WWII, Golden Books such as The Poky Little Puppy were an instant sensation. Hallmarked by their superlative quality yet affordable to nearly all, they changed the cultural landscape and mirrored our changing postwar culture: the powerful influence of television, the post-Sputnik renaissance in American science education, and the birth of the civil rights movement.

Golden Legacy features both newer illustrators of some older classics, and original illustration art by Richard Scarry, Garth Williams, Tibor Gergely, Feodor Rojankovsky, Eloise Wilkin, Alice and Martin Provensen, Leonard Weisgard, Mary Blair, and more. This exhibition was organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, Abilene, Texas.

Image: J.P.Miller, The Little Red Hen, 1954, gouache, © 1954 by Penguin Random House

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