Artist of the Month - Dr. Seuss
Artist of the Month: Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss, a most beloved author and illustrator of children's books!
However, today, on the eve of Read Across America and Dr. Seuss's birthday, we are going to look at Dr. Seuss and his most amazing artistic career!
Fast Facts:
Birth: March 2, 1904, Springfield, MA
Death: September 24, 1991 La Jolla, CA
87 years of age
Graduate: Dartmouth College 1925
Career Highlights
Commercial illustrator:
1927: First published cartoon The Saturday Evening. Other magazines include Judge, Vanity Fair, Redbook, Liberty
Advertising Artist
17 years with multiple companies
1927: Standard Oil Company
>>1937: First Book And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street<<
1941-1942: 400+ editorial cartoons for "PM" a New York City newspaper
War Effort:
Treasury Department & War Production Board:
Posters & Pamphlets encouraging US citizens
Military Service:
1943-1946: U.S. Army - achieved rank of Lt. Colonel. Was in command of the 1st Motion Picture Unit
Private Snafu instructional cartoons | Training Films | Brochures
Awards: A quick list of SOME of the Honors awarded to Dr. Seuss
Legion of Merit Award
3 Academy of Awards for military documentary
Oscar - for Best Cartoon Short 1951
Peabody Award - 1971
Emmy Award - 1977, 1982
Pulitzer Prize 1984
Personal Art:
Paintings and sculptures - hundreds of paintings and 17 known "Unorthodox Taxidermy" sculptures
Theodor Seuss Geisel lovingly known as Dr. Seuss is a role model in perseverance! He submitted his first book to 27 publishers before Vanguard Press agreed to publish it in 1937. Aren't we glad he didn't say "forget it", I'll stick with what I know and do well - commercial art!
Of course, we are very familiar with Dr. Seuss as an author and illustrator of zany children's books! I grew up in the 1960s so I started with Dick and Jane Books - "See Spot run. Run, Spot, Run". Along comes Dr. Seuss and totally changes kid's lit! We are eternally grateful too!
I was the perfect age when "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" debuted in the 60's. Of course, Little Cindy Lou Who is a favorite of mine (I wonder why!). Here's a fun fact: it was estimated that the 30 minute cartoon would take 25,000 drawings!
Read more about the making of the cartoon here!
I'm sure we all have a favorite Dr. Seuss book! I have fond memories of my Dad reading Fox in Soxs to my two brothers and me. I think Dad loved the tongue twisters!
I have a few favorite Seuss books for teaching art! After learning about Dr. Seuss as a professional artist, we looked at his fun "Quick Henry, the Flit" ads, Essolube ads and a political cartoon. We would then turn our attention to one of his books for inspiration. A few pages or two from Dr. Seuss's longer books was all that we needed to get our creative juices flowing! If a drawing seemed inappropriate (before the ban) - it was easily skipped! Good teachers know to do that!
We had fun creating new animals for McGrew's Zoo, new sea creatures swimming towards McElligott's pool, and new ways for Marvin K. Mooney to "Go!" I'm sure we were inspired by other books throughout the years (just can't remember all the projects!)
My Many Colored Days is a great book for expressing emotions! A good project that I taught for years uses black construction paper and pastels! The young (or older) artist chooses one color to express an emotion and creates! Of course, any medium and color of paper, even white, works for this project. It's all about connecting emotion with a color! No right or wrong!
Dr. Seuss' desire was to have another artist illustrate the book instead of himself. That was fantastically accomplished by the husband/wife team of Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher in 1996.
Do you have a favorite Seuss book? Use it as a springboard for creating new works of art! Don't copy Dr. Seuss. He truly was one of a kind and I think he would be one of the first to encourage children to be creative and unique in their artmaking and lives!
