Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss was a prolific and successful author and illustrator of children’s books. His books sold over 600 million copies over his lifetime. He was born Theodor Seuss Geisel in 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Geisel adopted the name ‘Dr. Seuss’ while at Dartmouth College, and as a graduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford. Following graduation in 1927, he went to New York to work as an illustrator and cartoonist for such magazines as Vanity Fair and Life. He also worked as a copywriter for advertising campaigns for Standard Oil, Ford and NBC. Seuss’ success resulted in his being able to travel extensively, and during a voyage on an ocean liner returning from Europe, the rhythm of the ship’s engines inspired a poem that became his first children’s book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. The success of this book resulted in four others being published before the Second World War. As the War began in Europe, Seuss turned to creating political cartoons which were anti-fascist and supportive of Roosevelt. In 1943, he joined the Army to work with the Motion Picture Unit of the US Army Air Force. After the war he moved to California where he returned to writing and illustrating children’s books including such classics as The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Green Eggs and Ham. He became interested in the subject of illiteracy among children and started to write children’s books in a simplified vocabulary manner. He was widely recognized for his work with child illiteracy. Seuss and his wife liked Venice, and this is reflected in Cat Carnival in West Venice, which incorporates elements from his popular book illustrations.

Cat Carnival in West Venice, 1998
Serigraph – LXXXI/XCIX