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| Warhol's children's book auctioned Artist's little-known interpretation of the story of the little red hen joins huge auction of classic children's literatureThey are a long way from the iconic pop art for which he is best known but a set of illustrations for a children's book series by Andy Warhol are set to go up for auction in New York next month.Warhol's pictures illustrate the story of the little red hen, a folk tale about the value of team work, and show a perky little red hen happily sowing her grains of wheat, as a lazy cat, mouse and dog – who is reading the paper – look on. They were drawn by Warhol early in his career, between 1957 and 1959, for the Doubleday Book Club's popular series Best in Children's Books.The Warhol illustrations will be auctioned on 9 December as part of Bloomsbury Auctions's sale of 365 original illustrations and books, alongside a host of pictures and letters from 19th-century fairytale illustrator Arthur Rackham, a privately printed edition of Beatrix Potter's The Tailor of Gloucester, rare Oz books by L Frank Baum and the artistic estate of award-winning African American children's illustrator Tom Feelings.A collection of correspondence between Roald Dahl and his publisher Alfred A Knopf, with a guide price of $1,000-$1,500 (£600-£900), sees the author talk about his recent trip to a spiritual healer, as well as his enjoyment of his latest work. "But you know, these damn children's books are such fun to do, they get you by the throat," Dahl writes.An "extremely rare" edition of Maurice Sendak's first picture book Good Shabbos, Everybody – commissioned after the illustrator Leonard Weisgard saw one of Sendak's window displays for FAO Schwartz in New York – is also on offer, as well as a poster Sendak drew for a 1979 New York book festival, showing a Wild Thing relaxing against the Empire State Building, eating a (big) apple and reading Villette.A guide price of $35,000-$45,000 has been put on two watercolours and two pencil studies Sendak did for a Wild Thing balloon for Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in 1998, one of which is annotated "the tail is not properly placed – as you can see!""The sale will showcase important works from the Golden Age of Illustration to the present day," said Bloomsbury Auctions in an announcement.Children and teenagersArtArtAndy WarholAlison Floodguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Twilight gives new Brontë films wings Success of the Twilight saga books and films inspire new productions of Wuthering Heights and Jane EyreThe Brontës are back in fashion – with a bit of help from Bella Swan. New films of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre will shoot next spring, and a script about the teenage fantasies of the four Brontë siblings is in the works.The film-makers are piggybacking off the success of the Twilight saga, which has sparked a renewed enthusiasm among financiers for gothic romance; the Brontës in particular. Wuthering Heights is one of Twilight heroine Bella Swan's favourite books, frequently referenced in the third episode Eclipse, whose storyline is inspired by Emily Brontë's only novel.The producers of the latest Brontë projects are targeting the Twilight audience with younger casts than previous versions and scripts that emphasise the sensational gothic elements alongside a contemporary psychological realism.Wuthering Heights, directed by Peter Webber, will star 22-year-old Ed Westwick, a British actor best known from the American teen TV series Gossip Girl, as an unusually youthful Heathcliff. Gemma Arterton, 23, will play Cathy.Jane Eyre, meanwhile, will be directed by Cary Fukunaga who, in the pursuit of authenticity on his last film Sin Nombre, got arrested for riding illegally on the roof of a cargo train. Jane Eyre stars the 20-year-old Mia Wasikowska, soon to be seen in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, opposite Michael Fassbender as Mr Rochester (who was at one point lined up for Heathcliff in the other film).Dominic Murphy, the British director who made his debut this year's with the harrowing White Lightnin', is writing an untitled project about the imaginative worlds invented by the Brontës as adolescents, isolated in their Haworth parsonage."There is a whole younger audience out there that is ripe to enjoy these darker versions of what is generally served up, and the response from funders has been very upbeat, especially in the light of the recent success of Twilight," says Murphy's producer Mike Downey."The Twilight factor is extremely helpful to Wuthering Heights," agrees producer Robert Bernstein. "It's clearly in the zeitgeist. Why is anybody's guess, but people are absolutely obsessed with this doomed, romantic love that can only be achieved beyond death, or in the case of Twilight, by becoming a vampire."In Eclipse, Bella quotes Cathy on Heathcliff to describe her feelings for her vampire lover Edward: "If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger." It is this forbidden, obsessive romance between Heathcliff and Cathy that Webber's film will focus on.Sales of Wuthering Heights shot up in France when it was marketed alongside Eclipse in bookshops. In the UK, Harper Collins republished it with a cover imitating the Twilight design, including an endorsement from "Bella & Edward". Head of sales Kate Manning says the gimmick has given teenage girls "a renewed interest in Brontë".Jane Eyre doesn't enjoy the same direct Twilight connection, but Moira Buffini's script brings out the book's gothic thrills. "This isn't going to be Zeffirelli lite," says producer Paul Trijbits, referring to the insipid 1996 version of Charlotte Brontë's novel. "It's fear in a gothic environment set against the backdrop of a love story. Is there something in the attic, or isn't there? It's a bit like The Others."Wuthering Heights will shoot next May in Scotland and Ireland – leaving the Yorkshire moors to take advantage of finance. Jane Eyre is scheduled for March, either in Yorkshire or Scotland. Murphy's untitled Brontë project is intended to shoot in 2011.Emily BrontëCharlotte BrontëStephenie MeyerAdam Dawtreyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Paperback Nonfiction Top 5 at a Glance1. THE BLIND SIDE, by Michael Lewis2. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin3. FREAKONOMICS, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner4. THE TIPPING POINT, by Malcolm Gladwell5. BLINK, by Malcolm Gladwell feeds.nytimes.com |
Hardcover Nonfiction Top 5 at a Glance1. HAVE A LITTLE FAITH, by Mitch Albom2. GOING ROGUE, by Sarah Palin3. WHAT THE DOG SAW, by Malcolm Gladwell4. SUPERFREAKONOMICS, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner5. STONES INTO SCHOOLS, by Greg Mortenson feeds.nytimes.com |
Books of The Times: Exclusive!!! Gossip Has a History! Henry E. Scott’s history of Confidential magazine is a cautionary tale about the wisdom of flagrant tell-all tactics. feeds.nytimes.com |