Laurent de Brunhoff’s Babar has been entertaining children of all ages for decades, and now he’s making a splash in Albuquerque. Tamarind Institute announced the availability of five original, hand-drawn lithographs created by de Brunhoff during his visit in 2008.
Tamarind invited de Brunhoff to create its annual Collectors Club print, which resulted in “Jumping for Joy,” a four-color lithograph depicting nine elephants jumping through a yellow background. The other five works, “Elephants Love Water” and a series called “Dancing Elephants (I-IV)” are now available to the public for purchase.
Each year, Tamarind Institute invites an established artist to create a print exclusively for its Collectors Club members. The purpose of the club is to encourage collecting. In previous years, collectors have received works by artists such as Jim Dine, Ed Ruscha, Donald Sultan and Hung Liu. More information on Tamarind’s Collectors Club is available at tamarind.unm.edu or by calling 277-3901.
De Brunhoff and Babar have been getting a lot of attention in New York City. Besides the recent exhibit “Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors” at the Morgan Library and Museum, articles featuring de Brunhoff have appeared in Art in America, Art News, The New York Times and other prominent publications.
Born in 1925, de Brunhoff grew up in Paris, France, listening to stories told by his mother of the lovable elephant she called Babar. So enchanted with the little elephant, Laurent and his brother convinced their father, Jean de Brunhoff, an accomplished artist, to illustrate the first Babar books. Laurent has kept Babar’s adventures alive in 37 books. More than eight million books by father and son have been sold across the world.
Story by Shelly Smith
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593; e-mail: michal@unm.edu