Thursday, June 19, 2008

Tasha Tudor Passes Away ... But Her Illustrations Live for Generations


[photo by Richard Brown]
New England charm is often created and supported through the visual artists who portray the region. This is especially true of the children's books illustrated by Tasha Tudor, whose New Hampshire farm, Corgi dogs, and flower gardens accompanied her painted rosy-cheeked children and their adult friends in all seasons.

Tudor died at her late-life home in Marlboro, Vermont, on Wednesday June 18 at age 92. There isn't room on this page for the extensive list of her work -- but there's a well-written LA Times obit to read if you like.

A brief note on the photo above: This is one of Richard Brown's photographs, and we hope that he'll forgive its use today; Brown's photo portrait book THE PRIVATE WORLD OF TASHA TUDOR is revealing, tender, and crafted with something of a Dutch painter's use of light. He told us in the past that the work with Tudor in her determinedly old-fashioned home functioned as an internship in photographic lighting for him, teaching him more than he'd imagined was ahead of him. The book is still available (although we're out of copies here at Kingdom Books), and we both recommend it.

Coming next week: A look at the very different illustrations and booksmithing of Barry Moser, an adopted New Englander.

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