February 24, 2011 – October 10, 2011

Philadelphia artist Charles Santore is a world-renowned children’s book illustrator whose professional career began in 1956 as a freelance illustrator. For nearly 30 years, he worked for select advertising agencies and magazines. In 1986, Santore was offered the opportunity to illustrate his first children’s book, The Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit and Other Stories. Santore said the experience was an artistic revelation because he no longer had to create an immediate message as required by advertising. Now, he had the luxury to pictorially develop the characters and scenes over a series of images just like the narrative journeys themselves. Since then, Santore has worked full-time illustrating children’s books that include Aesop’s Fables (1988), The Fox and the Rooster (1988), The Wizard of Oz (1991), The Little Mermaid (1993), Snow White (1996), Paul Revere’s Ride (2003), The Silk Princess (2007), and, most recently, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (2009).