Book Review: The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen , by Marie Hueston

You might know the whimsical artwork of Alice and Martin Provensen without even realizing it. The husband-and-wife illustration team created more than 40 children’s books in a career that spanned the mid- to late-20th century. Some of their earliest works are classics from the Little Golden Books series, such as 1949’s The Color Kittens written by Margaret Wise Brown (one of my favorites as a child), and they worked steadily in the decades that followed, illustrating volumes of fairy tales, myths and legends, picture books, poems, and more. One of their books, The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot, won the Provensens a Caldecott Medal in 1983.

Children’s book historian Leonard S. Marcus describes two hallmarks of the Provensens’ style as having an “eye for dynamic page design and a droll sense of humor.” Both are evident throughout The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen, a new title from Chronicle Books that features hundreds of the Provensens’ original illustrations as well as personal photographs, reflections, speeches, and other memorabilia lovingly curated by their daughter Karen Provensen Mitchell. A lengthy interview with Mitchell in the book offers insight into her parents’ partnership and personal life. “My mother said of their collaboration, ‘We thought of ourselves as one artist illustrating,’” Mitchell reveals. When one of her parents became frustrated with their work, Mitchell adds, “he or she would hand the paper over to the other, passing it back and forth, until both were satisfied. They really loved their work, and each other, and they loved to work together.”

When they weren’t collaborating on a new project, travel was another of the couple’s passions. The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen also includes their beautifully illustrated travel journals from far-off places. The journal pages are sometimes simple pen and ink, others in full color. Occasionally the artists include handwritten notes, a museum ticket glued to the page, or even playful self-portraits placing themselves in the scenes, posing in front of Venice’s Grand Canal, for instance, or sitting on a museum floor, exhausted after a long day of looking at paintings. Anyone who enjoys journaling will be inspired by these pages and may try to capture the small moments of their travels, and maybe even their everyday lives, in this manner.

In their Caldecott acceptance speech, included in its entirety in the book, the Provensens describe their work in this way: “We draw and paint to express our joy and excitement in life and to communicate our feelings to children in the most direct and effective way. For children’s book writers and illustrators, there must be a great drive to write and draw for the child in oneself.” Through the artwork and recollections showcased in this book, The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen will provide a walk down memory lane for many, as well an inspiration to a new generation of artists.

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Comments are closed.

On Key

Related Posts

An ode to the bar at the edge of the world, theater review by Oscar Fock

It smells like harbor, I thought as I walked out to the end of the pier to which the barge now known as the Waterfront Museum was docked. Unmistakable were they, even for someone like me maybe particularly for someone like me, who’s always lived far enough from the ocean to never get used to its sensory impressions, but always

Millennial Life Hacking Late Stage Capitalism, by Giovanni M. Ravalli

Back in 2019, before COVID, there was this looming feeling of something impending. Not knowing exactly what it was, only that it was going to impact the economy for better or worse. Erring on the side of caution, I planned for the worst and hoped for the best. My mom had just lost her battle with a rare cancer (metastasized

Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club returns to it’s roots, by Brian Abate

The first Brooklyn Rotary Club was founded in 1905 and met in Brooklyn Heights. Their successor club, the Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club, is once again meeting in the Heights in a historic building at 21 Clark Street that first opened in 1928 as the exclusive Leverich Hotel. Rotary is an international organization that brings together persons dedicated to giving back