Chris Van Allsburg (American, b. 1949) The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, book cover, 1

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Chris Van Allsburg (American, b. 1949) The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, book cover, 1978 Conté crayon on paper 19-1/2 x 23-1/8 inches (49.5 x 58.7 cm) (sheet) Signed and dated lower right: C. Van Allsburg 1978 PROVENANCE: The artist; Allan Stone Collection, New York; Rago Arts and Auction Center, Lambertville, New Jersey, November 11, 2017, lot 697; Private collection, New York, acquired from the above. EXHIBITED: Allan Stone Gallery, New York, "Chris Van Allsburg: Drawings," New York, September 11-October 4, 1979; Society of Illustrators, New York, "23rd Annual Exhibitions," January-April 1981; Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan, "Enter the Dream World of Chris Van Allsburg," April 12-July 5, 1987; Center for the Promotion of Children's Books in Seine-Saint-Denis, Montreal, Canada (and elsewhere), "Chris Van Allsburg," December 4, 1992-January 21, 1993. LITERATURE: C. Van Allsburg, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, Boston, Massachusetts, 1979, illustrated cover. A remarkable Renaissance man, Chris Van Allsburg is a writer, producer, and unapparelled draftsman, renowned for iconic stories and illustrations that are considered modern-day classics. Maurice Sendak has gone so far as to call Van Allsburg "the finest technician working in the field of book illustration art." He has won two Caldecott Medals for American picture book illustration, Jumanji (1981) and The Polar Express (1985), both of which he also wrote. For his contribution as a children's illustrator, the artist was a 1986 U.S. nominee for the biennial International Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition for creators of children's books. The present work is the extraordinary cover illustration for his seminal first published book, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, for which he was also awarded Caldecott Honors. The following is an excerpt from the 2010 induction of Chris Van Allsburg into The Illustrators Hall of Fame: "According to the artist, the psychological issues raised in [his books] generally reflect concerns and interests that are my own. And yet they are everyone's concerns. Those who have read these books themselves or to their children can use them as a substitution for personal articulation. In each of his books, there is a personal (universal) feeling that is expressed, often more eloquently than we the tongue-tied can express them to our children (or ourselves). Van Allsburg is our interlocutor and interpreter. "Every literary season I look forward to the work of two or three authors. Van Allsburg is one of them (and for a long while he satisfied that desire with a book a year) because his are not really children's books, although they're suited to a child's needs. He agrees. He said that he doesn't think of his books as being so pigeonholed. 'Nonetheless, that does not mean that I am unaware that the largest part of my audience is children, but I do not choose story ideas or draw in a particular style because of that. I'm sensitive to the requirement that a story be told lucidly in language that's not too challenging. I have respect for the youngest members of my audience and as a result do not feel constrained by what some may feel are their limitations.' "I wonder today what might have been if I had commissioned illustrations from Van Allsburg for the Op-Ed. Would this have enhanced or crushed his career as a book author and illustrator? Would he have found his bliss anyway? Would he have conformed to the Op-Ed approach? It was around 30 years later that I asked him to illustrate the holiday issue of The New York Times Book Review, which he did beautifully. By then, however, there was no gamble that Chris Van Allsburg would make fabulous illustrations; it was as sure a thing as shooting fish in a barrel." -Steven Heller