More Than Just Kid Stuff : Gallery Featuring Children’s Book Art Attracting Collectors

When the two dozen or so members of the Los Encinos School kindergarten class tramped through the Every Picture Tells A Story gallery last year, their tour inadvertently overlapped with that of a graduate school painting class.

No problem. Gallery co-founder Abbie Phillips simply sat the two groups next to one another and delivered a single lecture on the subject of art from children’s books, omitting nothing from her standard presentation. “I didn’t talk down or speak up,” said Phillips, who said that afterward both sets of students congregated to share ideas and impressions on the works before them. “This is a place that can foster that type of exchange.”

In fact, it may be the only place. Begun four years ago, Every Picture Tells A Story is the nation’s first art gallery devoted exclusively to works from children’s books, displaying originals and lithographs from such acclaimed storybook artists as Maurice Sendak and Laurent de Brunhoff (Babar), as well as from the more macabre Charles Addams. It is a place where storybook art is taken just as seriously as traditional fine art works. “Technically it’s up there with anything,” said Phillips of storybook art, “and emotionally it’s better than most.”

That it should be considered anything less was what brought Phillips and co-founder Lois Sarkisian together in their venture. Though neither had a formal background in art--Phillips was a biologist, Sarkisian an interior designer--both recognized the innate appeal, and the aesthetic quality of storybook art. Instead of being relegated to the books they read to their children, such works, they felt, should be hanging on display, if not in museums, then in galleries. In Europe, Sarkisian said, that practice is common. “The major artists are in perpetual exhibition there,” she said.

From the beginning, Every Picture experienced a similar acceptance. Despite expectations that only a few dozen people would show up for its debut, more than 500 people crowded the opening of the gallery, first located on La Brea Avenue near Melrose. Their initial customers, said Phillips, were mainly parents looking “to buy anything for the nursery” as well as collectors interested in acquiring affordable and quality original works.

Since then, the gallery has displayed works by such artists as Jules Feiffer and Tim Burton, and has fashioned plans for an upcoming show by gonzo illustrator Ralph Steadman. “We set out to not make this a kiddie attraction (but) to depict this in a fine-art context,” said Phillips. “We set out to present this as no one has ever done before.”

In at least two important aspects, they have succeeded. The first is that the gallery’s clientele now consists mainly of avid art collectors--about 80%, Sarkisian estimates. The second is that the prices commanded by original storybook art have risen smartly in recent years, even as the recession has forced down prices in the traditional art market. Today, an original from William Joyce, author and illustrator of “Santa Calls” and “Nicholas Cricket,” fetches upward of $10,000. Likewise, an original Chris Van Allsburg, illustrator of “Polar Express” and “The Z Was Zapped,” which would have sold for as little as $1,000 five years ago, now is worth 20 times that.

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Much of the appeal, say collectors, has as much to do with the quality of the art as the memories evoked by storybook art. Jonathan Levin, vice president of series development at CBS, began collecting storybook art after he first entered Every Picture Tells A Story several years ago. Since then, he has assembled a solid collection that mixes both classic and new storybook artists, a collection that he envisions sharing one day with children of his own.

“I’ve always remembered very vividly the children’s books I grew up with,” said Levin, who terms storybook art “the most satisfying part” of his overall art collection, which includes works by Andy Warhol and Ellsworth Kelly. “You can’t help but look at this stuff without smiling. It’s fantastic, it’s funny.”

Phillips said Levin’s sentiments are shared by many of her customers. “We’re dealing with a whole generation to whom this personally means something,” she said.

Phillips and Sarkisian also credit the boom in children’s book publishing during the last decade as furthering the awareness of storybook art. According to Bill Raggio of the nonprofit New York-based Book Industry Study Group, children’s books are now a $2-billion a year business, having doubled in the last five years. This year, more than 322 million children’s books are expected to be sold.

Consequently, despite the daunting increase in the prices of the most sought-after works, Phillips and Sarkisian say that the continuing influx of new artists into the field ensures that such art will remain within the reach of collectors of modest means, even as well-known artists such as Red Grooms and David Hockney lend their talents to children’s books.

Originals from rising artists such as Kevin Hawkes and Susan Gallagher, Phillips said, can be bought for as little as $500. And for those who don’t mind reproductions of classic artists, Every Picture also has exclusive master print lithograph agreements with Sendak, Burton and Hilary Knight, creator of the character Eloise. Price for a limited edition by Sendak, who adamantly refuses to sell his original work: $500. “This is a coherent field of art that you can collect without mortgaging your house,” said Phillips.

Ultimately, Phillips and Sarkisian would like to see the supreme honor accorded to storybook artists--that of permanent placement in a museum. “If we’re lucky, the Los Angeles County or the Getty will start collecting,” said Phillips, who predicts that such acceptance is inevitable.

Scot Levitt of the Los Angeles office of Butterfield & Butterfield, an auctioneer of fine and decorative art, agrees.

“They definitely have potential as museum pieces,” said Levitt, who directs the auctioneer’s Painting Department. “Many of these (artists) should be considered just as important as anyone else.”