Leonard Weisgard's 100th anniversary (Illustrator & Caldecott Medalist)

[leno...@yahoo.com]

Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1916, he grew up mainly in England and died in 2000, in Glumso, Denmark.

He won the Caldecott Medal for "The Little Island," which Margaret Wise Brown wrote under the pseudonym Golden MacDonald.

There was an exhibit for Weisgard this spring, at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts. About that:

http://www.carlemuseum.org/content/leonard-weisgard-press-release

And more on that:

http://www.amherstbulletin.com/Arts-Leisure/Magician-of-the-Modern-Eric-Carle-museum-celebrates-the-work-of-children-s-book-artist-Leonard-Weisgard-1195410

Many people may remember him for his illustrations for another Margaret Wise Brown book - "The Golden Egg Book," about a bunny that wonders what is inside an egg.

http://leonardweisgard.com/

https://www.google.com/search?q=leonard+weisgard&biw=1280&bih=563&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiW2d_VsfLQAhVrLcAKHci0BmcQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=_
(some illustrations)

https://www.google.com/search?q=leonard+weisgard&biw=1280&bih=563&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiW2d_VsfLQAhVrLcAKHci0BmcQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=leonard+weisgard+%22golden+egg%22
(illustrations for "The Golden Egg Book")

Two underrated fantasies that he illustrated in the 1950s were the "The Snowflake and the Starfish" by Robert Nathan; it involves a sea-witch and two children, and "The Secret River" by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - that one got praised in Joan Lexau's 1968 classic "Striped Ice Cream."

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/11/leonard-weisgards-stunning-1949-alice-in-wonderland-illustrations/248012/
(from 2011 - about his work for "Alice in Wonderland")

http://thewendywatsonblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/leonard-weisgard.html
(blog entry)

https://www.google.com/search?q=leonard+weisgard&biw=1280&bih=563&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjov-XWsfLQAhVHC8AKHd68DLEQ_AUIDCgF&dpr=1.25
(videos of his books being read aloud - this includes "The Golden Egg Book" and "The Secret River")

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/27/arts/leonard-weisgard-83-artist-illustrated-books-for-children.html
(obit)


Lenona.