Saturday, June 21, 2008

Tasha Tudor

Tasha Tudor passed away at age 92; here is the New York Times link, and the one at the LA Times. Her illustrations were in the books I read as a kid. I cannot look at any other edition of A Child's Garden of Verses without thinking first, those pictures are not right.

In reading her obituaries, I'm becoming intrigued with the woman herself.* But there are things that hint at some (to me) interesting things, and I want to read more about her.**

I am most fascinated not by her "simple" life but by the "living in the past" aspect. Having just done some dental work where the entire time I thought, "thank you, God, for having me be born in a time when this can be done without pain and without losing the tooth," and never having liked outhouses while camping, as much as I like different past periods in time I've never wanted to actually recreate them or live in them.

Yet this quote about her work -- "I’m a commercial artist, and I’ve done my books because I needed to earn my living" -- tells me she didn't overly romanticize things. It's common sense; it's not saying, oohh, if you're an artist it is the art, etc.

Anyway, I am now intrigued by her life and by her lifestyle. And have more books on my TBR pile. And sadly know I can never have a simple lifestyle myself, as I'll always need to have enough rooms for all my books, and enough money for books and bookshelves.

*Yeah, I know, being too nosey about a person's life, etc. etc.
** Add it to my long list of post-Printz reading.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you can, find a copy of "Take Joy" to watch. My Children's Lit prof in library school showed it to us. You'll get a nice glimpse of her everyday life.

Andromeda Jazmon said...

I grew up on her too, as my mother adores her books. I'd love to learn more about her life. What are you reading about her?

Anonymous said...

She wrote (or authorized) a couple of books about her life during the 90s--The Private World of Tasha Tudor, Tasha Tudor's Garden, etc. They're romantisized, but they quote her liberally, and include lots of pictures. There are a couple of biographies out, including one from 1979, by her daughter, called Drawn From New England. It's not as sappy as you would think, for a child-written biography.

--Sarah