The Art of Allen Say: A Sense of Place

Organized in honor of Allen Say’s 70th birthday, this exhibition explores both the technical mastery and the thematic complexity of this prolific artist and author. Say trained as a commercial photographer and found his place writing and illustrating children’s books in the 1970s. He won the Caldecott Award in 1994 for Grandfather’s Journey. Say has spent much of his career exploring the rich divide between his Japanese youth and his American coming of age, with an ability to convey alienation and dislocation in ways that speak directly to children. 

This exhibition was supported in part by a gift from Walter Lorraine Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.