Art of Dr. Seuss - Overview

	Illustration Art Like Norman Rockwell, Seuss personally created every rough sketch, preliminary drawing, final line drawing and finished work for each page of every project he illustrated. Despite the technical and budgetary limitations of color printing during the early and mid-twentieth century, Dr. Seuss the artist was meticulous about color selection. He created specially numbered color charts and elaborate color call-outs to precisely accomplish his vision for each book. Saturated reds and blues, for example, were carefully chosen for The Cat in the Hat to attract and maintain the visual attention of a six-year-old audience. By the time Seuss’s book career took off, sharp draftsman skills were evident in drawings. His ability to move a storyline ahead via illustrations filled with tension, movement and color became a hallmark component of his work, and the surreal images that unfolded over six decades became the catalyst for a humorous and inspired learning experience.

	Secret Art llustrator by day, surrealist by night, Seuss created a body of irrepressible work that redefines this American icon as an iconographic American artist. Yet, the Secret Art often shows a side of the artist that most readers, familiar with him through his classic children’s books, have never seen. This collection, created over a period of more than 60 years, encompasses the entirety of Seuss’s multi-dimensional talent. The artistic golden thread highlighted throughout this collection is apparent in each wildly imaginative and surreal Secret Art image. The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss is an inimitable collection of artworks created at night for his own personal enjoyment. These works were rarely, if ever, exhibited during his lifetime and provide a deeper glimpse into the art and life of this celebrated American Icon.

	Archive Collection Theodor Seuss Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) delighted millions worldwide as author and illustrator of some of the 20th Century's most beloved books for children. However, the paintings and illustrations included in the Dr. Seuss Archival Works show another facet of Geisel's artistic expressions as seen in his political cartoons, advertising illustrations, select private works and some of his more obscure books for children. Two of Seuss's notable projects in the late 1920s and early 1930s, included a national ad campaign for Standard Oil of New Jersey, as well as Life and Judge magazine covers. Geisel's hallmark wit and whimsy was already evident in these works, as it was in his early paintings done for select books in the 1940s and 1950s. The enduring satirical messages of Dr. Seuss's Archival Works are a testament to his sharp creativity and his poignant comments on life throughout the 20th Century.

	Taxidermy Collection Seuss embarked on an ingenious project in the early 1930s as he evolved from two-dimensional artworks to three-dimensional sculptures. What was most unusual for these mixed-media sculptures was the use of real animal parts including beaks, antlers and horns from deceased Forest Park Zoo animals where Seuss’s father was superintendent. Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy was born in a cramped New York apartment and included a menagerie of inventive creatures with names like the “Two Horned Drouberhannis,” “Andulovian Grackler,” and “Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn.” Shortly after Seuss created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on Unheard-Of Animals.” To this day, Seuss’s Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multi-dimensional creativity.

	Bronze Collection Artist Leo Rijn was selected as the sculptor for the Dr. Seuss Tribute Collection I, a series of four bronze sculptures featuring Seuss’s most beloved books and characters. The first in this much anticipated series debuted on live TV in New York City to a standing ovation. Over half of the 195 bronze “Cat in the Hat” sculptures from this edition were sold in the first few days of release.