by Roger Zotti

To fully appreciate an artist’s work, you have to see it, not simply read about it. In this case, it’s the artistry and genius of the immensely talented Hardie Gramatky (1907-1979), author of “Little Toot,” the enduring children’s classic. From November 15 – April 15, 2009, at the Custom House Maritime Museum, 150 Bank Street, New London, “Tugboats & Little Toot: The Paintings & Illustrations of Hardie Gramatky” is being exhibited.  For more information, visit www.nlmaritimesociety.org.

Susan Tamulevich, the museum’s director, pointed out that Hardie’s classic “Little Toot” was recently voted “one of the top twenty children’s books in the country ever, and the exhibition has one of the book’s original pictures and also pictures from many of his subsequent books.” Also exhibited is the “Little Toot” storyboard, Susan added, “with the pages laid out. We also have his notebook, with his thought processes about putting the book together.” Included in the exhibit is Hardie’s work as a fine artist. “He spent his summers in Old Lyme,” Susan added, “and we have several seascapes of that town.”

Recently Susan spoke with Linda Gramatky Smith, Hardie’s daughter, who said that American realist artist Andrew Wyeth (1917 – ) “put together a list of his top twenty watercolor American painters.” It included Hardie Gramatky, along with Winslow Homer (1836-1910) and John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Susan explained, “People don’t realize what an excellent painter Hardie Gramatky was because he’s better known for his books; he’s a wonderful, wonderful painter.”

On exhibit is  “East River #1,” a watercolor painted in 1938. According to Linda, “It’s a favorite because it really shows Dad’s freedom in trying a more impressionistic, modern style.” Another favorite is, Linda added,  “from the book  ‘Little Toot on the Grand Canal,’  written and illustrated in 1968. Little Toot has been washed onto the Piazza of San Marco and past the golden cathedral.”

In 1930 Hardie was an animator at Walt Disney Studios. In 1936 he broke with Disney and moved to NY. “We have a selection of watercolors he did at that time of tugboats in NY Harbor that are so beautiful,” Susan said. “He had a love of tugboats and [that carried over to 1939], when he did ‘Little Toot,” his first children’s book.” Later, it was made into a Disney cartoon.

“We also have pictures of Walt Disney and Hardie on a tugboat in NY Harbor,” Susan noted. “So we have not only the art work but the attendant archives, storyboards, and notebooks as well. We’ve copied out the notebooks so that people can leaf through to see how he actually put his book together and how he critiqued himself. We have some videos and a copy of the Walt Disney video and videos of Hardie giving what he called chalk talk to students.  On a [chalk board] he’d draw and show them how quickly he could make a character come to life. And we have two of the original chalk drawings that he did.”

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