The WP scores another BIG
Hit with their current exhibit: Seuss Falls: Discovering the Arts andScience of Dr. Seuss.
The Washington Pavilion
has brought another Do Not Miss exhibit to Sioux Falls. I love books. Cultural
and social history is far more than a passing interest to me. The Seuss exhibit
is well done; for history it is a solid A and the art, which is quite familiar,
yet still interesting gets a B (not spectacular.)
Theodor Seuss Geisel was
inventive, innovative, and imaginative. His career, as his art went through
very diverse stages. Primarily Geisel was an illustrator. His illustrations
take on a very artistic touch. Though artistic his drawings are welcoming as
shown later in his creatures that have a certain warm cuteness. In addition to
his drawing talent Geisel was poetic. He was fascinated by sounds and hypnotic rhyme;
He possessed a strong social conscience.
During his lifetime Geisel’s
privately created serious artworks that are an interesting segment of the
exhibit dubbed his “Secret Art.” The
piece of his more serious Secret Art that I liked was done in 1932 titled,
“Incidental Music For a New Year’s Eve Party. One of his cartoons that touched
me took on a political tone. It was a 1940 work called “The Knotty Problem of
Capital Hill” …further described as: “Finding a way to raise taxes without
losing a single vote.”
Geisel began his career as
a Cartoonist, working primarily for magazines, creating cartoons,
illustrations, advertising and covers.
From magazines he segued
into the Advertising creating “Ad Art.” He worked for some of the Big Boys including
Standard Oil of New Jersey and Ford Motor Company. For Standard Oil of NJ
(Humble Oil and Refining Company we called it in Texas) he worked on a bug
spray named “Flit.” Apparently Flit contained DDT or some type of human toxin
for which Geisel later felt some embarrassment by association. Years later he
penned “The Lorax” that extolled the
virtues of environmentalism.
Geisel worked in the Advertising
field for fifteen years, though interrupted by his service during World War II.
In the Army he worked for the U S Military Office of Information and Education
creating posters and other advertising matter. In 1943 he authored movie
scripts for a military unit headed by Frank Capra, the renowned director doing
war documentaries. Geisel won two Academy Awards (Documentary Feature and Animated Short Film) for
his work in the Army and was awarded the Legion of Merit.
Geisel’s next career field
was as a writer and illustrator of children’s books. Dr. Seuss (Geisel’s pen
name taken from his middle name) is probably the most well-known and popular
Children’s authors of all time. He sold over 600,000,000 (that’s 600 MILLION!)
books.
Among his most popular
books are: “The Cat In the Hat”, “Green Eggs and Ham”, “How the Grinch that
Stole Christmas”, and “Horton Hears a Who.”
The good Doctor’s social
conscience besides, “The Lorax” and environmentalism, extended to
“Sneetches” - tolerance and racial
prejudice and “Yertle the Turtle” dictatorship and expansionism.
Factoids of fancy for me –
“The Cat in the Hat” was written as a reading primer and contained 225 new
reader vocabulary words. “Green Eggs and Ham” was written as the result of a
$50 bet between Geisel and his publisher at Random House, Bennett Cerf; that
Geisel could not write a book using only 50 words. Dr. Seuss won. The resultant
62-page book used only 50 words, 49 of them were one syllable and the 50th
word was “anywhere.”
Geisel believed, “no
matter the media, every piece of paper was a canvas.”
This exhibit was a solid effort
by the WP. The cost is a little spendy, $18 adult admission. Despite the higher
cost, I hope the Pavilion programmers keeping bringing on these art
exhibitions.
Cultural Notes – Endbar
In conjunction with the
Seuss Falls exhibit there was (they took it away before my second visit) a
display case in the entryway outside the entrance to the exhibit that contained
four or so whimsical music instruments (perhaps Geisel inspired) loaned from
the American Music Museum on the University of South Dakota campus in
Vermillion. As many of the exhibits at the Vermillion museum, they are unique.
The American Music Museum
(formerly Shrine to Music Museum) needs to get “Out There” – it’s a TREASURE
and nobody has ever heard of it much less seen it.
Unfortunately music lovers
just are not traveling to Vermillion. The museum’s collection is World Class,
nothing else even close in North America and maybe (I understand) one of the
three best on the Planet Earth. I understand a new building is planned and a
new marketing is being studied. If you haven’t seen the American Music Museum it’s
less than an hour’s drive. You will not regret the trip. They have a world
class website – check it out.
More music but closer to
home is the America’s Music series that is ongoing at Siouxland Libraries.
A film, lecture, and
performance series has been first rate. It continues through the end of June.
On successive Sunday’s Augustana College Music Department Chairman, Scott Johnson
has lectured, led discussion, and shown films on the history of Rock and Roll,
Broadway, and Jazz. There was an outstanding presentation on guitar
craftsmanship, last month by a local guitar maker (luthier), Josh Rieck, and I
am looking forward to SDSU music faculty Anthony Lis who will talk again about
Blue Yodels, Prairie Radio, and Arizona Swing: The Country Music Life of Billy
Burkes.
Culture is alive in South
Dakota.
