Normal Rockwell Museum Hosts Hilary Knight Exhibition Fall/Winter
STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Norman Rockwell Museum (NRM) has announce their fall/winter exhibition, Eloise & More: The Life and Art of Hilary Knight, featuring iconic illustrations by 95-year-old artist Hilary Knight. The exhibition opens Nov. 12
"We are honored to have the opportunity to share Hilary Knight’s vibrant artworks reflecting the breadth of his exceptional career with visitors to the Norman Rockwell Museum," said Chief Curator Stephanie Haboush Plunkett. "Exhibition Curator Jesse Kowalski and I have marveled at the joy and originality reflected in his art and vision, no matter the subject or assignment at hand. His artworks and stories bring out the inner child in us all."
This is the most comprehensive exhibition on the career of one of the most published illustrators of the last seven decades. Best known for his work in the Eloise picture book series by Kay Thompson, many of Knight’s illustrations of the spirited six-year-old girl who lives in the Plaza Hotel are included, together with a curated selection from his extensive portfolio of published and personal work.
"the illustrations we first see remain in our brain... probably for our lifetime," Knight said. "Mine were from the pen of England’s Ernest H. Sheppard, …his effortless drawings gave the viewer Christopher Robin & his companions, Pooh Bear, Tigger, and the one who Eloise most admired—Piglet."
This retrospective exhibition presents the full range of the artist’s accomplishments with more than 140 artworks and objects created by Knight, and a rare selection of paintings and drawings by his accomplished and artistic parents, Katharine Sturges Dodge and Clayton Knight. Much of the work on view has rarely been seen, including original advertisements, movie posters, fashion designs, storyboards, book dummies, and a 1930 painting by Knight’s mother, Portrait of a Young Girl, which inspired Knight’s Eloise more than 20 years later, Eloise "trial" drawings, sketches for Eloise-themed rooms at the Plaza, product merchandise designs, and a once-stolen Eloise portrait from the Plaza Hotel.
The exhibition will also feature original illustrations from many other picture books by the artist, as well as Drawn from Life, an illustrated memoir. A curated selection of drawings Knight made for magazines and advertisements over the last 70 years will be on view including Broadway posters, fashion illustration, and home design. Rarely seen work for other authors, unpublished books and personal photographs offer viewers insight into the artist’s life, inspiration, and creative process.
"First of all, I am deeply honored," said Knight. "I am very much a person whose talents and style come directly from my parents Clayton Knight and Katharine Sturges. I would add my Art Students League teacher Reginald Marsh. Thank you!"
Don Bacigalupi, exhibition advisor and former museum director, describes Knight’s style.
"It takes a mere moment of exposure to Hilary Knight’s works to understand his genius. He is a consummate storyteller and a master of character. His line has the confidence of Ingres and the expression of Matisse. His color palettes are exuberant and subtle, dazzling and refined. His compositions sometimes rival Rube Goldberg’s in their complexity and stunning balance… and Knight’s sense of humor—in person and in his art—is both wry and dazzling," he said.
Artist Hilary Knight plans to be in Stockbridge for opening weekend events; updated information will be posted on the Museum’s website at NRM.org.
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