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THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM PRESENTS FIRST EXHIBITION OF ITS EXTRAORDINARY BABAR COLLECTION

Original Illustrations and Manuscript Material from First Books by Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff Illuminate Authors' Creative Process and Document the Birth of an Iconic Character in Children's Literature

Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors
September 19, 2008, through January 4, 2009

** Press Preview: Thursday, September 18, 2008, 10 a.m. until noon **

New York, NY, June 4, 2008–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 on view only at The Morgan Library & Museum from September 19, 2008, through January 4, 2009. 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, fifteen 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.

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