The event took place in the Music Room, a splendidly formal setting better known for formal academic lectures and chamber music concerts. Finally he devoted more than an hour to exchanging pleasantries with admirers as he personalized their copies of his book. Afterward he participated in a Q&A session. It recounts, in distinctively dePaola-ized fashion, a version of the story that motivated the exhibition. The text was his 1978 The Clown of God, which after the ten award-winning Strega Nona volumes may be his most beloved children’s book. Tomie dePaola reads The Clown of God, as Jewell Stoddard watches. Like a late-career sports star who digs deep and summons up his best for one last championship win, Tomie stood up and delivered a rousing reading that held the audience rapt. The occasion was a show in our museum called “Juggling the Middle Ages,” which examined a medieval miracle tale about an entertainer who performed for the Virgin Mary. On November 10, 2019, Tomie did me the honor of appearing at Dumbarton Oaks, the outpost of Harvard University that I head in Washington, DC. Losing him in these dark days of pandemic brought back two consolingly bright memories, both connected with a legend that seized both of our imaginations.įirst, roll the clock back a year and a half. After a bad spill in the barn that served as his studio, he suffered complications that led soon to death. On Mathe American author and illustrator Tomie dePaola passed away at the age of 85 in New Hampshire.
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