Under the Cork Tree: The Story of Ferdinand

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art: 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 dozens of 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).