by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Mass., is devoted to the art of picture books, the first such museum in the United States. It was founded by Carle and his wife Barbara in 2002.
Eric Carle was the author and illustrator of more than 70 books, including the 1969 classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In addition to a permanent exhibit about Carle’s life and art, the West Gallery in the museum features rotating exhibits relating to Carle.
The Carle exhibit during our visit was Eric Carle ❤️ Japan, which explored Carle’s long interest in the country of Japan. During his lifetime he made five trips to Japan, which is where he first learned of museums dedicated to picture book art, inspiring him to found the museum here in the U.S.
A really interesting part of the exhibit was the illustrations from a book Carle collaborated on with Japanese picture-book artist Kazuo Iwamura in 2001, Where Are You Going? To See My Friend! The two artists have very different styles, but rather than combine their styles, Carle started at the beginning and Iwamura started at the end, each working in their own style and meeting in the middle (see two representative pictures).
The East and Central galleries feature rotating exhibits on other picture book artists. During our visit we saw The Art & Storytelling of Claire A. Nivola and Horse Tales: Galloping into Children’s Books.
We were short on time, so we found the museum’s movie on Carle, Eric Carle Picture Writer, on YouTube to watch later. If you have any interest, it’s worth a watch, as he shows you how he paints and assembles his tissue paper collages, how much he loves color, and how he creates a book.
It’s a relatively quick spin through the museum, as it is not very large; however, it’s clear you could return again and again and encounter different experiences.
