Sample Hilary Knight at the Rockwell Museum

 

 

ELOISE & MORE: THE LIFE AND ART OF HILARY KNIGHT

Norman Rockwell Museum

Stockbridge, MA

Through March 12, 2023.

 

 

 

I did not grow up reading Eloise stories or having them read to me. Few boys were. I have to remind Emily of that every time she makes some matter-of-fact reference to the books as if I should know what she is talking about. The stories were written by Kay Thompson, but for years I didn’t really “get” her enthusiasm. Then, back in 2017, we saw an exhibit at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture book Art that featured Hilary Knight, the man who illustrated Thompson’s work.

 

Still, though I saw in Knight’s work the insouciance that so appealed to Emily, Eloise still held but mild interest. A new show at the Norman Rockwell Museum provides new reasons to get to know the 96-year-old Knight. It should go without saying (though it didn’t for me!) that a man who has made his living producing works on paper would have more than one job. The Rockwell has plenty of Knight illustrations from the Eloise series, but it also surveys his work much more broadly. 

 

 

This one reminded me of Edward Gorey

 

 

 

 

I had not been aware, for instance, that his second most famous project brought to life Betty McDonald’s Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books. Nor that he has worked on more than 50 books, Broadway musicals, and magazines ranging from McCall’s to House and Garden. He even did some set design for the Ogunquit Playhouse and took in private mural commissions.

 

 

  

Knight’s parents were also illustrators that understood the need for Hilary to get training–Reginald Marsh was one of his teachers–but as a young man, his first “break” (if you will) was painting ships for the U.S. Navy. I suppose there’s irony in that, given that he is gay, but I came away with the feeling that Knight was attracted first and foremost to projects that allowed him to dust off his wit and puckish sense of humor. He admits a debt to quirky British artist/cartoonist Ronald Searle, who often produced ironic, urbane New Yorker-like images. 

 

 

Knight is also part of that marvelous breed whose work, even when made for a child audience, is smart enough to tickle adult funny bones. He’s also the sort who fretted over detail, not because he needed to, but because he felt each line needed to be there. Illustrators, of course, continue to suffer from the charge that they are draftsmen rather than serious artists. There’s no accounting for taste. Or snobbery.

 

If you can, get to the Rockwell and have a chuckle over Knight’s output. Along the way, you’ll be able to construct your own rejoinder to those reluctant to call it art.

 

Rob Weir