Laura Sprague, senior consulting curator at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, will share a presentation on beloved Maine author/illustrator Barbara Cooney and the collection of her original work and correspondence at the museum.
Cooney, who died in her Damariscotta home in 2000, wrote or illustrated more than 100 children’s books during her six-decade career. Proclaimed a Maine State Treasure in 1996, she bequeathed her original paintings for “Miss Rumphius,” “Island Boy,” “Hattie and the Wild Waves,” and “Eleanor” to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Cooney imbued each story with a rich spirit of place, anchored by extensive historical research.
This illustrated slide talk will highlight Cooney’s original paintings, rendered in vivid color and exquisite detail. Preparatory sketches and related archives, donated to the Museum of Art by her children in 2015, reveal Cooney’s process. Correspondence and research notes detail her thoughtful consideration of historical accuracy that makes her work so compelling.
Sprague has been with the Bowdoin College Museum of Art since 1989, where she served as consulting curator of decorative arts until 2016, when she became senior consulting curator.
