The Calico Jungle
Dahlov Ipcar was born in Vermont, raised in Greenwich Village, and summered in Maine after her parents (the famed sculptor William Zorach and artist Marguerite Zorach) bought a farm on Georgetown Island in 1923. Thirteen years later, eighteen-year-old Dahlov, an aspiring artist, married Adoph Ipcar. The young couple left New York City in 1937 to live on the Maine farm where they first met.By the early 1940s, Ipcar had nearly given up thoughts of writing and illustrating books, but was contacted by a New York publisher to illustrateThe Little Fisherman, the latest title by Margaret Wise Brown. The struggling young artist jumped at the chance, and this charming title helped launch a four decade run that saw her write and illustrate more than thirty children's books of her own.In the milestone book,The Calico Jungle,first published in 1965, Dahlov was feeling the urge to express herself in a new way. The book's illustrations marked a dramatic change in style as she began to explore "the endless possibilities of patterns. It had a terrific influence on my fine art," she says. "It inspired me to change my whole style."The Calico Jungleis a shining example of Dahlov's exploration into the juxtaposition of shapes, colors, patterns, and light that have become the hallmark of her later work.Today, Ipcar's intricate, distinctive, and fanciful artwork is known worldwide, with pieces of her work in the collections of numerous renowned museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Meanwhile, Ipcar still lives and paints in the 1860s farmhouse that she shared with Adolph for nearly seventy years. She once said she didn't want celebrity or fame; she just "wanted to be recognized." In retrospect, a fairly modest statement for a Maine – and American – treasure.