Original illustration: “Lady Liberty, Bartholdi”
No place: 2007. Watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper, measuring 12 x 15 inches, full sheet. Titled in pencil, lower left margin. Signed, dated, and inscribed in black marker: “For my friend Mo, Best wishes, Matt Tavares ‘07,” lower right margin. Penciled measurement lines in margins. Tipped to mat and archivally framed to 20 x 23 inches. With: a copy of Doreen Rappaport’s Lady Liberty (2008).
Original illustration by Matt Tavares for Doreen Rappaport’s 2008 picture book Lady Liberty: A Biography, which follows the Statue of Liberty from conception to completion. Rappaport tells Lady Liberty’s story through the voices of public figures (Gustave Eiffel, Emma Lazarus, Joseph Pulitzer) and unsung participants (the construction supervisor in New York harbor, a New Jersey girl who donates her pet roosters to the fundraiser). In this illustration, Tavares provides a birdseye view of sculptor Auguste Bartholdi on the rainy morning of October 28, 1886, gazing out from the windows of Liberty’s crown, awaiting the cue to unveil her to the crowd of thousands below: “The boy waves his hand. At last, it is time. I loosen the cord holding the tricolors over Liberty’s face.” Lady Liberty received a number of honors upon publication, including a third Parents’ Choice Gold Award for Tavares, creator of the bestselling Dasher series. A fine, evocative illustration, inscribed by Matt Tavares to fellow children’s book illustrator, Mo Willems.
Price: $1,800.00