William Steig Retrospective Closes March 16
The New York Times clued me in to an exhibit at the Jewish Museum that sounds fantastic. As someone who enjoyed a lot of William Steig’s artwork and somewhat macabre storytelling as a kid, I was intrigued to learn that he began his very successful career as a children’s author at the age of 60. He died in 2003 at the age of 95.
In 2001, I stumbled upon an exhibit in London of Quentin Blake’s work, recalling vividly the mischievous images he lent to Roald Dahl’s books. Blake’s illustrations were central to my experience of Dahl’s text; I can still recall in gruesome detail the contents of Mr. Twit’s unkempt beard. I didn’t love William Steig’s work such as Doctor De Soto, Abel’s Island and The Amazing Bone the way I loved Matilda or Danny the Champion of the World, but I remember the worlds he created, and his off-kilter sense of humor, and the fact that his stories took turns that I didn’t want them to.
Steig’s illustrations of the 1930’s and 1940’s for the New Yorker drew on dark themes such as the difficulty of marriage and the psychology of depression. His children’s books became an outlet for him to tackle adult issues, present moral dilemmas and magical situations, through the eyes of the most human of animal characters. In the exhibit, I’m sure that those who felt disturbed by some of his plot twists yet still drawn to his stories will find a deeper understanding of this enigmatic artist with a curious career.
The exhibition will move to the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco this summer. Read the article from the Times here.
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