All About Mr. Elephant, in His Becoming Green Suit

This article talks about the creative story which was written by Brunhoff and his son who made great illustrations.
After the firt book, "The story of Barbar, the little elephant" he published 6 more Barbar tales. His son who heard the story after world war II he took over the franchise. His son has illustrated 37 books about this elephant who was orphan; he turned king. And here more than eight million books have been sold so far.

After this, elegant exhibition has been put named as "Drawing Barber: Early Drafts and Watercolors" at the Morgan Librrary & Museum. His laconic illustrations demostrates very precise narration in which diverging lines of dots becomes tears, angled eyebrows signal anger and the varied curves of an elephant's trunk evoke an inner life.

Brunhoff's illustration style is charming and very new. Like multiple images of Barbar runnig and riding the elevator suggest the movement, comic strip balloons emerge from animals' mouths as they call out, perspective is skewed or suggested by an object's size. The pencil sketches are exuberant, experimenting with gestures and attitude.

Now comes the background of the story. At firt Barbar's suit was not a shad of green but was more of a dull gray. thy later innovated the Babar marries his femal cousin, Celeste. The artist who sketched, named, Laurent has very different method of preparing his sketches. This weirdness made his first book so successful. And the other section of Brunhoff–so poweful.Think of old lady who was always fond of lilttle elephant and gives Babar whatever he wants. Babar escapes from countyside and he arrives in a great town. There he desired for a fine clothes. And he buys clothes for his young cousin when they come down to the town. Later Babar was was taught the ways of humanity and then returned home as a king. He was patient.

The story leads to the uncivilized, unclothed native to the civilization. thy are taught the ways of civilization and returns home enlightened, unquestionably embracing the world that will ultimately bring them grief. The child reader will not have sense of Babar's self-importance, but over the time such ambiguities will affect their perceptions. One can say there is a story element in Babar. Clothes represents culture. (In one book pictures appear of the workers of Babar’s town, Celesteville, dressed according to their occupations.) Babar begins as a child in human city, naked. Later when he was dressed in green suit, he leaves his childish thing behind.

One of the exhibition’s labels points out that there was another beloved childhood character who came out of the same Parisian milieu: Curious George. Margret and H. A. Rey carried the manuscript for that book with them as they bicycled out of Paris in 1940, fleeing the Nazis. They might have been influenced by Babar, but their colonial hunter, the man in the yellow hat, didn’t murder his prey. He took the monkey away. And he brought him to the New World, where George’s anarchic, unclothed spirit roamed so freely it might have tried even Babar’s patience.

This has been put up at: “Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors” remains through Jan. 4 at the Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street; (212) 685-0008.

Web: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/arts/design/22baba.html?pagewanted=2