New Exhibition Features Creations by Brian Selznick

Explore the innovative mind of the award-winning writer and illustrator at the Delaware Art Museum.

The Delaware Art Museum presents From Houdini to Hugo: The Art of Brian Selznick now on view through Jan. 11. The exhibition presents more than 100 paintings and drawings by the award-winning children’s author and illustrator. Selznick’s world includes images of characters as diverse as magician Harry Houdini, poet Walt Whitman, singer Marian Anderson and the fictional Hugo Cabret, an orphan who lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station. In 2008, Selznick was awarded the Caldecott Medal for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was made into the Oscar award-winning film Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese. Selznick’s illustrations animate the imaginations of children and adults with his blending of illusion, history, and adventure. Born in 1966 in Newark, N.J., Brian Selznick graduated from the Rhode Island School of Art and Design with the intention of becoming a set designer for the theater. A position designing window displays at Eeyore’s Children’s Bookstore in New York City opened his eyes to the world of children’s illustrated literature, inspiring him to write and illustrate his first book, The Houdini Box, in 1991. Selznick has since illustrated novels and picture books for other writers, such as The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley, for which he won a Caldecott Honor. From Houdini to Hugo encompasses works from Hugo and 18 of Selznick’s other books, among them The Houdini Box, Walt Whitman: Words for America, Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride, The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins and Frindle. The exhibition will also include books, allowing visitors to put each work of art into the context of the story. From Houdini to Hugo: The Art of Brian Selznick expands on the Delaware Art Museum’s world-renowned collection of illustrations and works by well-known illustrators such as Howard Pyle and N.C. Wyeth. Additional works from the museum’s illustration collection will also be on display in the first and second floor galleries through January. The exhibition will be accompanied by events and programs this fall, including a members preview, a free family day, a book signing with Brian Selznick, film screenings of Hugo and an after-hours Art is After Dark event. For more, dial 571- 9590 or visit delart.org.

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