NY Librarians : Mapping ‘Madeline’ Creator’s New York Haunts by Allison Meier on July 30, 2014

The artist behind the beloved book series "Madeline" is in the spotlight at the New York Historical Society.

"Madeline
in New York: The Art of Ludwig Bemelmans" is an exhibit that celebrates
Madeline's 75th anniversary with more than 90 pieces of art.

Although the series is based in Paris, Bemelmans was living in New York when he wrote and illustrated the books.

"Madeline
is such a special character, she just speaks to me of bravery and
adventure and that can-do American spirit that we America girls all
aspire to," said curator Jane Bayard Curley.

The collection will be on display through mid-October.

For more information go online to NYhistory.org.

- See more at:
http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/news/212839/-madeline--exhibit-comes-to-new-york-historical-society/#sthash.NLjpDIR9.dpuf

HyperAllergic

July 30, 2014

To mark the centenary of the children’s book author and illustrator stepping into Gotham, the New-York Historical Society opened Madeline in New York: The Art of Ludwig Bemelmans earlier this month. In conjunction with the exhibition, illustrator Adrienne Ottenberg created a map of “Bemelmans’ New York.”

Madeline, the smallest of the “twelve little girls in two straight lines” who lived in “an old house in Paris that was covered in vines,” was born in Manhattan. In Pete’s Tavern on Irving Place in 1938, Ludwig Bemelmans scrawled those first rhyming lines that would introduce his petite heroine of the Madeline books.

“And sometimes they were very sad,” 1939 Madeline (Simon & Schuster, 1939) Watercolor and gouache Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection TM and © Ludwig Bemelmans, LLC.

Ludwig Bemelmans, “And sometimes they were very sad” from Madeline (Simon & Schuster, 1939), Watercolor and gouache (Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection, © Ludwig Bemelmans)

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Bemelmans, born of a German mother and Belgian father, arrived in New York City in 1914, passing his first night stranded on Ellis Island after his dad forgot to meet him. To mark the centenary of the children’s book author and illustrator stepping into Gotham, the New-York Historical Society opened Madeline in New York: The Art of Ludwig Bemelmans earlier this month. In conjunction with the exhibition, illustrator Adrienne Ottenberg created a map of “Bemelmans’ New York.”