Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Under the Cork Tree: The Story of Ferdinand
Among the greatest of American picture books, The Story of Ferdinand turns ninety in 2026. In a single sitting in 1935, Munro Leaf dashed out a story for his friend Robert Lawson, choosing an exotic setting, Spain, and an unlikely hero, a bull who didn’t want to fight. The two friends produced a gem, a marriage of word and image that still enchants children and adults alike. Since 1936, Ferdinand has never been out of print, his story has been translated into more than 60 languages, and he has starred in several movies. The exhibition includes Lawson’s finished drawings, his book dummy and Leaf’s manuscript, and a cel from the Academy Award-winning Disney animated short (1938).
Curated by Jane Bayard Curley.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Book dummy sketch for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. Courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Rare Book Department. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
