Book Review: The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen , by Marie Hueston

You might know the whimsical artwork of Alice and Martin Provensen without even realizing it. The husband-and-wife illustration team created more than 40 children’s books in a career that spanned the mid- to late-20th century. Some of their earliest works are classics from the Little Golden Books series, such as 1949’s The Color Kittens written by Margaret Wise Brown (one of my favorites as a child), and they worked steadily in the decades that followed, illustrating volumes of fairy tales, myths and legends, picture books, poems, and more. One of their books, The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot, won the Provensens a Caldecott Medal in 1983.

Children’s book historian Leonard S. Marcus describes two hallmarks of the Provensens’ style as having an “eye for dynamic page design and a droll sense of humor.” Both are evident throughout The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen, a new title from Chronicle Books that features hundreds of the Provensens’ original illustrations as well as personal photographs, reflections, speeches, and other memorabilia lovingly curated by their daughter Karen Provensen Mitchell. A lengthy interview with Mitchell in the book offers insight into her parents’ partnership and personal life. “My mother said of their collaboration, ‘We thought of ourselves as one artist illustrating,’” Mitchell reveals. When one of her parents became frustrated with their work, Mitchell adds, “he or she would hand the paper over to the other, passing it back and forth, until both were satisfied. They really loved their work, and each other, and they loved to work together.”

When they weren’t collaborating on a new project, travel was another of the couple’s passions. The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen also includes their beautifully illustrated travel journals from far-off places. The journal pages are sometimes simple pen and ink, others in full color. Occasionally the artists include handwritten notes, a museum ticket glued to the page, or even playful self-portraits placing themselves in the scenes, posing in front of Venice’s Grand Canal, for instance, or sitting on a museum floor, exhausted after a long day of looking at paintings. Anyone who enjoys journaling will be inspired by these pages and may try to capture the small moments of their travels, and maybe even their everyday lives, in this manner.

In their Caldecott acceptance speech, included in its entirety in the book, the Provensens describe their work in this way: “We draw and paint to express our joy and excitement in life and to communicate our feelings to children in the most direct and effective way. For children’s book writers and illustrators, there must be a great drive to write and draw for the child in oneself.” Through the artwork and recollections showcased in this book, The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen will provide a walk down memory lane for many, as well an inspiration to a new generation of artists.