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Hotel del Coronado records the view outside Geisel's studio window.
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I can’t imagine there’s an American alive who isn’t familiar
with the works of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel). Several generations of children
have learned to read with his books and his drawings are ubiquitous.
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Gosh! Do I Look as Old as All That! is part of an 11-painting series gently mocking La Jolla matrons.
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The world as seen by Dr. Seuss is strange, but it might look
a bit less odd to a native of San Diego. Geisel modeled his palms and acacias,
brightly-plumed birds and bright landscapes on the Southern California
scene.
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| Martini Bird, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) |
Geisel lived in La Jolla, an upscale seaside neighborhood in
San Diego, from 1953 until his death in 1991. There he wrote most of his
classic children’s tales including The
Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who,
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Green Eggs and Ham, and The Lorax.
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| Raising Money for the Arts, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) |
Like so many 20th-century book illustrators, he learned his craft
through advertising, drawing for General Electric, NBC, Standard Oil, and
other companies.
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Cat Behind the Hat, Theodor Geisel (Dr Seuss)
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Dr. Seuss liked to paint at night after he was
done writing and illustrating during the day. Unlike most artists with a
bifurcated work life, his personal paintings aren’t clearly different from his
story books. This couldn’t have been because his life was smooth sailing: his
first wife, Helen Palmer Geisel, committed suicide in despair over illness and
her husband’s burgeoning affair with her close friend. Geisel served in the
First Motion Picture Unit of the Army in the Second World War and lived through
all of the epochal, cataclysmic events of the 20th century. But none of that
shows in his work. It is unfailingly gentle and shallow, although marginally more adult.
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Lion Stroll, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
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Ingenious! The World
of Doctor Seuss is an exhibit of reproductions of his paintings and
sculpture. (His widow refuses to
allow any of his original work to be displayed.) It runs at the San Diego
History Center until the end of 2015.
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Oh, I’d Love to go to the Party, but I’m Absolutely Dead, Theodor
Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
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Let me know if
you’re interested in painting with me on the Schoodic Peninsula in beautiful
Acadia National Park in 2015 or Rochester at any time. Click here for more information on my Maine
workshops! Download a brochure here.
