I’ve been asked quite frequently about the artists thatElephant Gerald is aping on the MoWillems.com homepage. I even had a letter recently from ateacher planning to have her students visit the various artists representedduring a class trip to their local Museum. Well, they’re a mix of artists that have either had a greatinfluence on my work, artists whose work speaks to me, or artists who are easyto spoof.
Before I run them down,why not take a quiz and see whom you can name.
How’d you do?
Here’s the rundown, by the numbers indicated in the imagebelow:
1. Alexander Calder; my all-time favorite artist for hiswhimsy and for inventing an entirely new art medium, the mobile. I started my career making wiresculptures and the Red Elephant is certainly a homage to Calder.
2. Charles Schulz; my other all-time favorite artist. Sparky’s work continues to inspire, alifetime after I first saw it.
3. Henri Matisse; the man whose early work made Picasso abetter artist and whose later work still amazes me.
4. Robert Motherwell; perhaps not as well known as FranzKline, but I prefer Motherwell’s bold calligraphic strokes and loopy circles.
5. René Magritte; comedian with a brush. Belgian.
6. Andy Warhol; not my cup of soup, but I love his earlyJazz Record illustrations and he’s easy to spoof.
7. Joan Miró; bold, colorful, and so funny. I’ve always loved his line and beenamazed by the colors in his backgrounds.
8. Pablo Picasso; because, well, c’mon. Painting, drawing, ceramics, all spectacular. Check out hisillustrations done by flashlight and long exposure photography to get a senseof how much fun he was having.
9. Andy Warhol; again. But it was a chance to sneak in the Pigeon.
10. Mark Rothko; whose background colors inspired my SuzieKabloozie cartoons for Sesame Street plus the backgrounds in the Pigeon books.
11. Amedeo Modigliani; who was a cartoonist working in anothermedium. Great emotion in the eyes, even if there are no eyes.
12. African Masks; which Picasso brought into westernart. I am fascinated with masks ofall kinds. The African rooms in the Brooklyn Museum always inspire.
13. Vincent Van Gogh; because he’s a Dutchman and hisbrushstrokes have the improvisation of a great cartoonist.
14. Frank Stella; I just like his work.
15. Piet Mondrian; another Dutchman. I’m a bit of amodernist, and his clean color stuff is just great, especially the work he madeafter visiting New York.
16. Henry Moore; whose sculpture is beautiful, heavy, andlight at the same time. I was oncein Bologna when the whole central square was covered in Moores. Amazing!
There are many other artists, to say nothing of illustratorslike Searle, Sempe, and Steinberg, that mean the world to me, but for somereasons these guys made the image.
By the way, you can purchase the poster of this image, whichI made to benefit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.
One lucky winner of the Guess the Artists Contest over at the Carle Museum Blog has won a personalized poster.
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