Picture Perfect! An Exhibit of Canadian Picture Book Art

About the Exhibit

TD Gallery is pleased to present Picture Perfect! A Celebration of Canadian Picture Book Art, featuring more than 50 original book illustrations from The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books, Toronto Public Library.

Original art for Quennu and the Cave Bear, written and illustrated by Marie Day, c1999. Reproduced by permission of Marie Day and Maple Tree Press, Inc.

The Osborne Collection, located in the Lillian H. Smith branch, 239 College Street (at Huron) is a world-famous historical collection of English-language children's books, ranging from a 14th century manuscript of Aesop's fables up to modern notable books, together with toys, art, and archives. With a cave-style entrance, cave art blocks to print with and pictures from some of your favourite picture books, this offsite exhibit highlights Canadian book illustration at its most imaginative, colourful and audacious!

Exhibition Items:

Harvey Chan, 1956-.
"Chun Yi drawing in the market."

Oil on canvas illustration from Ghost Train, written by Paul Yee. (Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1996).

Sheldon Cohen, 1949-.
"I asked God to send me, right away, a hundred million moths that would eat up my Toronto Maple Leafs sweater."

Acrylic on masonite illustration from The Hockey Sweater, written by Roch Carrier. (Montreal: Tundra, 1999).

Gift of Jane Dobell
Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books

Michael Martchenko, 1942-.
"The dragon was so tired, he didn't even move."

Watercolour illustration from The Paperbag Princess, written by Robert Munsch. (Willowdale: Annick Press, 1980).

Barbara Reid, 1957-.
"Nib loved to come home, wash up, and fall asleep surrounded by his colourful treasures."

Plasticine and mixed media collage illustration from The Subway Mouse, written and illustrated by Barbara Reid, (Toronto: North Winds, 2002). Gift of the artist.