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Art Nut

 The genius Jerry Pinkney is the subject a retrospective exhibit at the Montclair Art Museum; we're headed over today.


One of Pinkney's gifts was his infectious love for the natural world; he had great respect for animals, and he wouldn't alter reality to try to make it conform to his stories. For example, when someone said, "Why don't you adapt The Nightingale to a generic African setting?" ....Pinkney said, "I can't just plop these creatures down on a random patch of grassland. I need to find a part of Africa where nightingales actually make their home." Additionally, to make "The Tortoise and the Hare," Pinkney thought about where these critters might be found (the Southwest), and about what cast-mates might plausibly surround the critters. (Then: How do you use varied colors in the arid Southwestern landscape?)

A favorite work of mine is Pinkney's "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," with the brave mongoose, the cunning snake, and the excitable bird (friend to Rikki). Pinkney makes a garden in India a little "feast for the eye."

I'm glad this guy existed.



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