In early drafts for the first Babar book, Jean de Brunhoff opened the story with this episode showing the death of Babar’s mother. In the published book, he began instead with the reassuring image of Babar’s mother rocking him to sleep in a hammock. At this stage in his composition process, Jean had not yet given his protagonist the name “Babar” — he was called simply “Baby Elephant.” |
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Moustapha’s Feast, final watercolor by Laurent de Brunhoff. |
Drawings and Manuscripts Provide Insight into Origins of Babar |
A Magnificent Plane, Watercolor study by Laurent de Brunhoff.
Marriage and coronation of King Babar and Queen Celeste. The character of Celeste did not appear in the earliest drafts of Babar. In the earliest versions, Babar had two boy cousins and all three became king. In the final version, Babar and Celeste were crowned at their wedding. (Final watercolor by Jean de Brunhoff.)
Jean de Brunhoff made this crayon and graphite study for the cover. |
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The Morgan Library & Museum Drawing Babar features an extraordinary series of drawings and manuscript material acquired by the Morgan in 2004, including nearly all surviving working drafts for Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant (The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, 1931), the first book by Jean de Brunhoff (1899-?1937), and for Babar et ce coquin d'Arthur (Babar's Cousin: That Rascal Arthur, 1946), the first book written and illustrated by Laurent de Brunhoff (b. 1925), Jean's son. The development of such memorable episodes as the marriage of Babar and Celeste and the purchase of his signature green suit is traced from preliminary pencil sketches to splendid finished watercolors. The creation of Babar, the protagonist of a family bedtime story that began one of the most successful children's series of all time, is the focus of a new exhibition, Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors includes approximately 175 works, with manuscript drafts, sketches, and watercolors for the first book by each of Babar's two authors, father and son Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff. The exhibition explores the working methods of these two men, who, 15 years and a generation apart, created an iconic fictional character, French in style but universal in spirit, whose green suit and yellow crown have become recognizable to children and adults throughout the world. A highlight of the exhibition is Jean de Brunhoff's maquette for Histoire de Babar, a small illustrated booklet that he made at the midpoint of his composition process. Due to its format, however, only a portion of the work can be displayed. All pages of the maquette are shown in an accompanying digital facsimile, providing the public with full access for the first time. A comparison of the maquette with the published version of Histoire de Babar reveals changes, both subtle and substantive, that Jean de Brunhoff made to the text and images as he refined his work. Supplementing the Morgan's important collection of de Brunhoff manuscripts and drawings are first editions that make clear the broad reach of a family story that began in the nursery as a tale told by Cécile de Brunhoff and continues to this day in the work of her son Laurent, whose latest book in the series, Babar's USA, will be published just before the Morgan's exhibition opens. The Babar series is the story of an orphaned baby elephant who has adventures in civilization and returns to the great forest to become king of the elephants. Whether he is in the big city, at home in Celesteville, or on a journey to a far-off land, Babar's story is anchored in family connections. The creation of the Babar series, too, is a family story. One evening in 1930 Cécile de Brunhoff invented a story about an unnamed little elephant for her sons Laurent and Mathieu. Her husband, Jean de Brunhoff, an accomplished painter who had never before written or illustrated a children's book, expanded, illustrated, and published the tale in 1931 as Histoire de Babar. Publication was facilitated by Jean's brother-in-law Lucien Vogel, director of the French fashion magazine Le jardin des modes, and Jean's brother Michel, the editor of the Paris edition of Vogue. Jean de Brunhoff's elegant story, told in simple prose and clear, lush images, was embraced by French readers and was soon translated into English in 1933. In six sequels written before his untimely death at the age of thirty-seven, he continued the story of the good-hearted elephant who lives well, rules benevolently, and does his best to be a good father. The exhibition includes first editions of all seven of Jean's books as well as manuscript drafts and watercolors. Jean's eldest son, Laurent, an abstract painter, took up the story just after World War II, publishing Babar et ce coquin d'Arthur at the age of 21. Laurent's final illustrations looked very much like those of his father, but the exhibition reveals a very different creative process. Jean developed text and pictures concurrently at every phase of the composition, sketching in pencil and adding color only in the final stages. Laurent, by contrast, produced explosive swaths of color over the barest hint of graphite, incorporating text only after he had resolved his illustrations. Since Babar et ce coquin d'Arthur, Laurent de Brunhoff has produced 36 additional books about Babar and his family and friends. The Morgan acquired its Babar collection in 2004. Drafts and drawings for the first Babar book, Jean de Brunhoff's Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant, were acquired as a partial gift from the sons of Jean de Brunhoff — Laurent, Mathieu, and Thierry — and a purchase made with the assistance of The Florence Gould Foundation and the Acquisitions Fund, Fellows Endowment Fund, Gordon N. Ray Fund, and Heineman Fund. Drawings for the first Babar book by Laurent de Brunhoff, Babar et ce coquin d'Arthur, were a gift of the author. |
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