Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Displays ~

Monday, 17 March 2008 23:03

Montgomery, AL - Enjoy your childhood favorites as sophisticated art when the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts presents Babar’s Museum of Art.  Babar the Elephant was created in 1931  by the French author Jean de Brunhoff (1900-1937) and his son Laurentde de Brunhoff , who illustrated the children’s books featuring Babar.  On exhibition Saturday, March 22 through Sunday, June 22, 2008.
 
In the series, Babar leaves the jungle to visit the big city but brings the benefits of civilization back to the elephants in the jungle. He is crowned king of the elephant realm, and he leads his subjects to dress like modern people, walk erect on two legs, drive cars, and make art.
 
The Museum will display the complete original works from the book Babar’s Museum of Art (Closed  Mondays) , in which Babar renovates an old train station into an art museum housing the royal  collection of paintings. This collection remarkably resembles the masterworks of the western tradition; however, the pictorial narratives are portrayed through an elephant’s eyes. The females in Picasso’s Cubist
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon have tusks and trunks on their African masks, and  Babar’s painting by Michelangelo that depicts God creating Adam shows a nude, recumbent elephant being brought to life by the touch of his trunk to that of his creator, an old, wizened elephant flying over Adam supported by a cloud.
 
In the exhibition, 36 watercolors will be featured along with 16 drawings, studies, and sketches for the illustrations. These extra drawings and studies help to explain variations to the masterpiece models so that the book illustrations are instantly recognizable. The exhibition, was organized and the art loaned by Mary Ryan Gallery of New York City.
 
The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday Noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free and donations are welcome. For more information, call the MMFA at 334.240.4333 or visit the website at www.mmfa.org
 
The MMFA, a department of the City of Montgomery, is supported by funds from that City and County of Montgomery and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Association. Programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.