Dr. Seuss: From then to Now was organized by the San Diego Museum of Art as a special exhibition that travelled nationally for three years in the 1980s. The Education Curator, Mary Stofflet, and I developed the exhibition working with Theodore Suess Geisel. To honor him on the occasion of his eightieth birthday, we decided to tell the story of his life by showing his origial art work. He lent us original drawings from all of his books, let us photograph him in his studio, and wrote verse to describe How to make a book.

We created an environment in 8000 square feet that was engaging for a family audience. The Cat in the Hat invited you into the exhibition, where you first encountered 10’ tall projection of a montage of the covers of all of the Dr. Seuss books. Throughout you are walking through seussian style architecture and shaped graphic panels with banners over head containing quotes by Geisel about his philosophy of writing. The first section included comic illustrations, advertising, political cartoons, calendar art, and a chronology of Ted Geisel s life. The section Along the way In his spare moments the Doctor paints, scribbles, daubs and doodles contained some of his drawings and paintings.

The largest section was organized chronologically, with original framed drawings from each book, original editions, and a copy of the book that visitors could look through. In To Now the last section, we showed the different stages of making a book using the art work and proofs from his current book that was just being published. Dr. Seuss verse described ten stages in the process. And finally The Cat in the hat waves good bye as you exit into the Dr. Seuss store of course.

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