A dignified elephant, dressed in a green suit and wearing a yellow crown, walks upright across the page. This image-both absurd and endearing-has become instantly recognizable to several generations of readers throughout the world. The exhibition Drawing Babar returns visitors to the two essential moments of Babar's creation: when Jean de Brunhoff and, years later, his son Laurent, set down their initial thoughts on paper. Their earliest drafts, shown in juxtaposition with their finished watercolors, allow viewers to track the changes, both subtle and substantive, that both men made as they refined their work, bringing together word and image with elegance and exuberance.
In 2004 the Morgan acquired the working drafts and printer-ready watercolors for Histoire de Babar, le petit elephant (1931), the first book by Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937), and Babar et ce coquin d'Arthur (1946), the first book by Laurent de Brunhoff (b. 1925). Together these two collections-shown virtually in their entirety for the first time-provide an extraordinary record of the working methods of the two men, both painters turned storytellers. From the naming of Babar himself (first called simply "Baby Elephant") to the introduction of the beloved character Queen Celeste-not present in Jean de Brunhoff's first draft-these early sketches and watercolors provide an intimate look at the creation of an enduring fictional world.
You can read an article about the exhibit here and watch a video about the exhibit below.
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