On this Easter Eve, I thought it would be appropriate to share a little mystery about bunnies. It's no secret that I'm a vintage book nut. I'm always on the hunt for a new treasure to add to my collection. But when I find a book illustrated by Art Seiden, my heart pitter pats a little bit extra. My collection has even doubled since my last Art Seiden post - I've had good thrifting karma lately. Well, I made a discovery a while back that has me puzzled. Did Art Seiden have a wife who illustrated books too?
I'm what you might call a research or information junkie. I love to research about illustrators, authors, artists, designers, musicians- you name it. If I find a person's work inspiring, I'm always curious to find out more about the process & influences in that person's work. I'm particularly fascinated in couples that are both artists. When I stumbled on a book illustrated by a Bea Rabin Seiden- it really got my wheels turning. Her illustrations were done for Wonder Books around the same time that Art Seiden did illustrations for Wonder Books. They both worked with author, Alf Evers too. I thought there was a definite style similarity as well. Unfortunately, there really isn't any information. This book seems to be the only one on record that she has illustrated. I even checked in with my two vintage expert friends, Alix (modern kiddo) & Heather (3ring circus) to see if they could help me shed some light on this puzzle. Either way, I love Bea's bunnies. Here are some of the illustrations from the book, The Hungry Baby Bunny.
The illustrations for, Sonny the Lucky Bunny, are pretty great too. My favorite is probably the lion dancing with the bunny. I'm always drawn to Art Seiden's lions. Here are a few of Art's illustrations. (His is the very first illustration of the post too.)
Yes, this is the sort of thing that occupies my mind. I know, it really doesn't matter whether they are related or not. I just found it an interesting coincidence & fun to think about the two of them in their house together, happily drawing bunnies. Happy Easter everyone!
i am intrigued by the fact that they could have been married! i can just imagine the creativity that would have gone on (if indeed they were!)
ReplyDeletehappy easter kristin!
hmmm, just tried to comment but it seems to have disappeared...apologies if it randomly pops up!
ReplyDeleteok, what I was saying is that this kind of question will stay with me too -- and I MUST dig around until I find the answer.
Also, so love vintage picture books and have sort of accidentally gathered a collection over the years...I get so excited when I come across a beautiful picture book, I always think to myself, 'how do other people not see this valuable art! $2? I'll take it!'