The Snow Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum was simply
delightful. Work from his classic children’s book “The Snowy Day was on view.
As an elementary school teacher, the book is part of the canon of US children’s
literature. I remember the vivid color of the book, but on closer inspection I
was reminded that the book is created entirely in collage. He used scraps of
magazine and newpaper, as well as marbled and patterned paper in this art. A
seminal work, The Snowy Day
(1962), was the first children’s book that depicted a young African-American
boy as a protagonist who explores the wonders of in a city after a snowfall.
Growing up in Brooklyn, the exhibit points to Keats
formative years as the son of poor immigrant Jewish parents, who discouraged
him from pursuing art as a career. His parents warned him that he would starve.
His experiences as a minority gave him a compassionate view of other oppressed
groups in society.
No comments:
Post a Comment