Curious George Exhibition Preview Party Today at Mississippi Museum of Art

The Mississippi Museum of Art will launch an exhibition today of nearly 80 original Curious George drawings today with a special preview party at 6 p.m. at the museum, located at 380 South Lamar Street in Jackson.

Titled “Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H.A. Rey,” the exhibition includes items from the H.A. and Margret Rey papers held at The University of Southern Mississippi's de Grummond Children's Literature Collection. The exhibition runs through July 22 and is part of the Annie Laurie Swaim Hearin Memorial Exhibition Series.

Born in Hamburg, Germany to Jewish families, the Reys lived in Paris from 1936-1940 and escaped on bicycle with their artwork hours before Nazi forces occupied the city. From there they travelled for four months across Western Europe and then to Brazil before settling in New York in the fall of 1940.

When the de Grummond Collection was founded in 1966, the Reys were among its earliest contributors. Featured on the cover illustration of the collection's catalog is a drawing of Curious George bringing his books and pictures to Hattiesburg, with the title “Curious George Comes to Hattiesburg: The Life and Work of H.A. and Margret Rey.”

H. A. drew the cover illustration on the letter to then curator Lena Y. de Grummond telling her of his intention to send the collection some of his original work. More materials were added over the years, and in 1996, upon the death of Margret, the remaining literary estate was given to the collection.

Admission to the exhibition is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $6 for students. All students are admitted free on Tuesdays and Thursdays through the support of Trustmark Bank and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi. Group rates are available. For more information about the exhibition, online visit www.msmuseumart.org. To learn more about the de Grummond Collection, online visit http://lib.usm.edu/~degrum