Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Lion & the Mouse (Little, Brown Books). Museum purchase with acquisition funds from The Carle as well as support from Janet and Bill Gorth, Zora and Les Charles, H. Nichols B. Clark, Jane Bayard Curley, Shelley and Jonathan Isaacson, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Xeric Foundation, Judee Rainville and Christopher B. Milne, Cathryn Mercier, Josalyn Moran, Leslie and Paul Cooper, Rebecca Miller Goggins and Mark Goggins, Ellen Keiter and Jordi Kern, and Alexandra Kennedy and James Haug. © 2009 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney
Jerry Pinkney (1939-2021) changed the course of children’s literature. He was a brilliant artist and storyteller whose books influenced not just millions of young readers, but an entire generation of up-and-coming illustrators. Many of his books were about the Black experience—something woefully missing from publishing. He broke through that barrier commercially and set a new course for the field. Pinkney had an affinity for fairytales and Aesop’s fables. He also reinterpreted popular stories that traded in racist stereotypes to create new classics like Uncle Remus and Sam and the Tigers.
Pinkney was a founding trustee of The Carle, and its 2014 Carle Honors Artist. The Museum has featured his work in multiple exhibitions, including Our Voice: Celebrating the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards, Let’s Talk! Animals from the Collection, and Speechless: The Art of Wordless Picture Books. For many years, Pinkney served on the Museum’s Collections Committee, where he led efforts to diversify holdings and look at children’s literature through the lens of representation. In 2023, his widow Gloria Jean Pinkney donated to The Carle all preliminary and published images from his 2020 book The Little Mermaid. The following year, the Museum proudly purchased Pinkney’s iconic cover illustration of his Caldecott Medal winning title, The Lion & the Mouse.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for More Tales of Uncle Remus : further adventures of Brer Rabbit, his friends, enemies, and others by Julius Lester. Gift of the artist. © 1988 Jerry Pinkney.
Here Pinkney’s well-dressed animals march across the book’s back and front covers (the empty space between them is for the book’s spine and title text). While the creatures inhabit a legendary world of folklore, Brer Rattlesnake’s direct stare and the sidelong glances of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox indicate their awareness to our presence.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales by Julius Lester. Gift of Monica Quock Chan and Dean Quock in loving memory of Stephen and Joan Quock. © 1987 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for Last Tales of Uncle Remus by Julius Lester. Gift of the artist. © 1994 Jerry Pinkney.
Pinkney’s narrative art is dense with detail and emotional resonance. In this scene from Uncle Remus, he portrays the blacksmith (a self-portrait of the artist) who has just captured Impty-Umpty in an iron box. Brer Rabbit, peering through an open window, witnesses the event. With pictures and words, Pinkney and author Julius Lester retain the spirit of the 19th-century African American folktales but rectify the racial stereotypes and associations to slavery.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for Albidaro and the Mischievous Dream by Julius Lester. Gift of the artist. © 2000 Jerry Pinkney.
Pinkney masterfully layered translucent watercolors for many of his artworks. Albidaro’s magnificent cloak glows as the Guardian of Children flies against the dark night sky towards dawn.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christen Andersen. Gift of Mo and Cher Willems in honor of Alix Kennedy. © 1999 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Little Mermaid (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). Gift of Gloria Pinkney. © 2020 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Little Mermaid (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). Gift of Gloria Pinkney. © 2020 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Little Mermaid (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). Gift of Gloria Pinkney. © 2020 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Little Mermaid (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). Gift of Gloria Pinkney. © 2020 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Little Mermaid (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). Gift of Gloria Pinkney. © 2020 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Little Mermaid (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). Gift of Gloria Pinkney. © 2020 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Lion & the Mouse (Little, Brown Books). Museum purchase with acquisition funds from The Carle as well as support from Janet and Bill Gorth, Zora and Les Charles, H. Nichols B. Clark, Jane Bayard Curley, Shelley and Jonathan Isaacson, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Xeric Foundation, Judee Rainville and Christopher B. Milne, Cathryn Mercier, Josalyn Moran, Leslie and Paul Cooper, Rebecca Miller Goggins and Mark Goggins, Ellen Keiter and Jordi Kern, and Alexandra Kennedy and James Haug. © 2009 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Lion & the Mouse (Little, Brown Books). Gift of Gloria Pinkney. © 2009 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Lion & the Mouse (Little, Brown Books). Gift of Gloria Pinkney. © 2009 Jerry Pinkney.
Jerry Pinkney, Illustration for The Lion & the Mouse (Little, Brown Books). Gift of Gloria Pinkney. © 2009 Jerry Pinkney.
