LIFE’S A GREAT BALANCING ACT
Life’s a Great Balancing Act
Mixed-Media Pigment Print on Archival Paper
Image and Paper Size: 30.75” x 22”
Limited Edition of 395 Arabic Numbers
Mixed-Media Pigment Print on Archival Canvas*
Image and Canvas Size: 30.75” x 22”
Limited Edition of 495 Arabic Numbers, 99 Patrons’ Collection, 155 Collaborators’ Proofs, 5 Hors d’Commerce, and 2 Printer's Proofs
*Not yet available to collectors
Save the best for last . . .
This artwork is one of the last pages in Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Here Ted Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) not only sums up his thoughts about life but, in many ways, his thoughts about his own journey. The narrative Ted wrote on the accompanying page speaks boldly about life’s great ups and downs, a notion he doesn’t shy away from and one that is clearly evident in this striking image. Ted’s main character moves laterally across this Seussian landscape in a comfortably open space, as if balanced for whichever way life may take him.
“The narrative Ted wrote on the accompanying page speaks boldly about life’s great ups and downs, a notion he doesn’t shy away from and one that is clearly evident in this striking image.”
The Pajama-Clad Hero As Self-Portrait
In the summer of 1946, a New York friend invited Ted Geisel to vacation at Villa Narcissa above the Pacific southwest of Los Angeles. Ted’s biographers wrote: “After a few golden mornings padding about the terrace, Ted declared that he wanted to live the rest of his life in a climate that allowed him ‘to walk around outside in my pajamas.’” Here we see that pajama-clad boy nearing the end of a well-traveled journey.
Epilogue
In 1990, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! went promptly on The New York Times adult best-seller list and remained there for the rest of Ted’s life. He loved tracking its ranking in the Sunday Times Book Review—for him it was a “glorious game.” As these heady weeks passed, Ted finally exclaimed: “This proves it! I no longer write for children. I write for people!”
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