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Marc Simont: The Illusion of Ease
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From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Tue, 01 May 2001 14:49:36 -0500
Where did the month of April go? We spent some very constructive time on The Stray Dog, Many Moons and the Nate the Great books - and others, too. It seems that the month flew past - and it included CCBC-Net technical difficulties for some of us. Maybe I missed it, but we didn't even talk about Simont's illustrations in so many of this other books, including the Caldecott Award winning A Tree Is Nice written by Janice May Udry (Harper, 1955); The Philharmonic Gets Dressed (1982); or the Dallas Titans Get Ready for Bed (1986). The latter two books were both written by Karla Kuskin, edited by Charlotte Zolotow and published by Harper & Row.
"...What sixty years of illustrating has given Marc is the illusion of ease. He does what only the most talented artists can do: He makes his work look easy..." (Anne Hoppe, HarperCollins Senior Editor: CCBC-Net message: 4/3/01) I appreciate Anne's phrase "the illusion of ease," because that's an apt way to think about Marc Simont's art in so many of the picture books he's illustrated. During the CCBC discussion of The Stray Dog on April 20, someone pointed out that although Simont's style isn't flashy, one's eye is always easily drawn to the visual center of each illustration. Even a two-year-old can quickly locate the family car each time it travels across the bridge or respond to rounded shapes representing safety and care. He makes it all look so easy. I'm sure it wasn't.
We look forward to the article about Mr. Simont's artistry in a forthcoming issue of the journal Riverbank Review. We also hope for some updating about this 86-year-old artist who has contributed so much to children through his books over the decades. You'll find a brief, first-person statement written for older children in More Junior Authors edited by Muriel Fuller (H.W. Wilson, 1963); yup, it's outdated, but that's where you'll find the correct pronunciation of his name ("sih MONT, as in Vermont"). The article in Something about the Author, Vol. 73 (c1993) is helpful.
Thanks to those of you who asked questions and to those who wrote about children's responses to specific books. We greatly appreciate Anne Hoppe's detailed messages and those of other insiders such as Hariett Barton and Barbara Lalicki.
Some book discussions don't end. Now that this one is launched, let's continue thinking about Marc Simont's works with colleagues and friends of all ages, as well as within our own minds. Artist Martha Weston's remark about following Marc Simont as an illustrator of recent Nate the Great books sums it all up. On April 27 she wrote about the choices an illustrator makes, such as determining which moment in the story to illustrate, and "at the same time add something extra that extends the text without adding confusion. The man is a genius!"
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu Director, Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ A Library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin Madison 4290 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park Street Madison, WI 53706, U.S.A.
Phone: 608&3721 or 720 Fax: 608&2I33
The Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) is a noncirculating library for adults with an academic, professional or career interest in contemporary or historical literature for children and young adults.
Received on Tue 01 May 2001 02:49:36 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 01 May 2001 14:49:36 -0500
Where did the month of April go? We spent some very constructive time on The Stray Dog, Many Moons and the Nate the Great books - and others, too. It seems that the month flew past - and it included CCBC-Net technical difficulties for some of us. Maybe I missed it, but we didn't even talk about Simont's illustrations in so many of this other books, including the Caldecott Award winning A Tree Is Nice written by Janice May Udry (Harper, 1955); The Philharmonic Gets Dressed (1982); or the Dallas Titans Get Ready for Bed (1986). The latter two books were both written by Karla Kuskin, edited by Charlotte Zolotow and published by Harper & Row.
"...What sixty years of illustrating has given Marc is the illusion of ease. He does what only the most talented artists can do: He makes his work look easy..." (Anne Hoppe, HarperCollins Senior Editor: CCBC-Net message: 4/3/01) I appreciate Anne's phrase "the illusion of ease," because that's an apt way to think about Marc Simont's art in so many of the picture books he's illustrated. During the CCBC discussion of The Stray Dog on April 20, someone pointed out that although Simont's style isn't flashy, one's eye is always easily drawn to the visual center of each illustration. Even a two-year-old can quickly locate the family car each time it travels across the bridge or respond to rounded shapes representing safety and care. He makes it all look so easy. I'm sure it wasn't.
We look forward to the article about Mr. Simont's artistry in a forthcoming issue of the journal Riverbank Review. We also hope for some updating about this 86-year-old artist who has contributed so much to children through his books over the decades. You'll find a brief, first-person statement written for older children in More Junior Authors edited by Muriel Fuller (H.W. Wilson, 1963); yup, it's outdated, but that's where you'll find the correct pronunciation of his name ("sih MONT, as in Vermont"). The article in Something about the Author, Vol. 73 (c1993) is helpful.
Thanks to those of you who asked questions and to those who wrote about children's responses to specific books. We greatly appreciate Anne Hoppe's detailed messages and those of other insiders such as Hariett Barton and Barbara Lalicki.
Some book discussions don't end. Now that this one is launched, let's continue thinking about Marc Simont's works with colleagues and friends of all ages, as well as within our own minds. Artist Martha Weston's remark about following Marc Simont as an illustrator of recent Nate the Great books sums it all up. On April 27 she wrote about the choices an illustrator makes, such as determining which moment in the story to illustrate, and "at the same time add something extra that extends the text without adding confusion. The man is a genius!"
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu Director, Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ A Library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin Madison 4290 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park Street Madison, WI 53706, U.S.A.
Phone: 608&3721 or 720 Fax: 608&2I33
The Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) is a noncirculating library for adults with an academic, professional or career interest in contemporary or historical literature for children and young adults.
Received on Tue 01 May 2001 02:49:36 PM CDT
