Exhibition Dates: April 16–May 18, 2019
The NAU Art Museum recently acquired preparatory sketches used by the artist to communicate with art directors whose books Baldridge was commissioned to illustrate. Baldridge is an important historical voice in American illustration, not least for his liberal, post-colonial perspective on the costs of empire early in the twentieth century. The books that he illustrated, as well as those on which he collaborated with journalist Caroline Singer, approached distant cultures in a spirit of humility. His illustrations bring to life such monumental works of literature as The Adventures of Marco Polo and Hajji Baba of Ispahan.