During his career, Keats authored 22 books and illustrated more than 80. His trademark: evocative urban landscapes paired with simple text. His process involved combining paint and collage, and he usually focused on city kids.

The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats chronicles the artist's life by taking you through his work backward. As Keats aged, his books became more introspective and biographical, and detailed his youth growing up in a tenement in East New York, Brooklyn. The first gallery displays pages from Goggles!, in which Peter and his dog Willy outsmart neighborhood bullies, Apt 3, with kids exploring their apartment building at night, and Dreams, where troubles float away on colors during sleep.

The second gallery explores racism in kid lit prior to The Snowy Day with Little Black Sambo and similar titles on display. Keats’ early work reveals the seeds of social awareness sprouting within him, like his depictions of Pennsylvania coal miners, shantytown inhabitants and 1960's My Dog is Lost featuring Juanito, a little Puerto Rican boy who meets other minority kids across the city while searching for his missing pooch.

Snowy Day lovers will particularly enjoy the third gallery, which has seven original illustrations from the book. It was the first time Keats used his collage technique and the first time he wrote a book entirely on his own. From the moment it was published, the tale resonated with readers of all races, as indicated by the many fan letters sent to Keats and his publisher. Keats put Peter in a total of six books, and you can check out his post-Snowy Day adventures as he makes friends, gets a dog and a baby sister, and grows up.

This gallery leads straight into the reading room, Peter’s Neighborhood, a beautiful reproduction of the boy's apartment building, with laundry lines, overflowing garbage cans and graffiti on the walls. Plop down in one of the colorful beanbag chairs and share one of Keats’ classics with your child.

The final gallery shows how Keats was inspired by Asian art and poetry, and contains illustrations he created for other authors, including gorgeous pages from John Henry: An American Legend. His original palette and collage materials are also on view.

Since there are no hands-on activity stations beyond the reading room, The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats may be of more interest to adults than kids. That's why it's probably best to visit on a day when the Jewish Museum hosts an interactive event in conjunction with the exhibit. There are quite a few to choose from.

Take a Trip with Keats
Sunday, October 30 10:30am-12:30 pm
Families can tour the exhibit, and then make a diorama inspired by Keats’ book The Trip. $16 for adults, $11 for children. Includes museum admission. Ages 2-7.

Ezra Jack Keats Family Day
Sunday, November 13 noon-4pm
This day-long celebration includes drop-in collage workshops, a collaborative collage mural, readings of The Snowy Day, Whistle for Willie and other Keats’ classics, cool Snowy Day photo ops and a self-guided family scavenger hunt. Free with museum admission: $12 for adults, free for children under 12.

Exploring Ezra Jack Keats
Sundays, December 4 and December 11 10:30am-12:30 pm
An in-depth, two-part art program exploring Keats’ celebrated style. Families can tour the galleries, and then work on their own paintings using techniques like marbled paper. $22 for adults, $20 for children. Includes museum admission. Ages 8-12.

The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats is on view through January 29, 2012 at the The Jewish Museum.

Photos courtesy of The Jewish Museum.


Find out about other awesome exhibits for kids this fall in our Museum Guide.