GARTH MONTGOMERY WILLIAMS (American, 1912-1996). There Was the Handsome Pig, and Over Him, Woven Neatly in Block Letters, ...

Description

GARTH MONTGOMERY WILLIAMS (American, 1912-1996)
There Was the Handsome Pig, and Over Him, Woven Neatly in Block Letters, Was the Word TERRIFIC, Charlotte's Web, Page 95 illustration, 1952
Graphite and ink on paper
8.25 x 10 in.
Signed lower right

As Pulitzer prize-winning author Eudora Welty wrote so poetically in her splendid review of Charlotte's Web, " Wilbur is of a sweet nature -- he is a spring pig -- affectionate, responsive to moods of the weather and the song of the crickets, has long eyelashes, is hopeful, partially willing to try anything, brave, subject to faints from bashfulness, is loyal to friends, enjoys a good appetite and a soft bed, and is a little likely to be overwhelmed by the sudden chance for complete freedom. He changes the subject when the conversation gets painful, and a buttermilk bath brings out his beauty. When he was a baby he was a runt, but the sun shone pink through his ears, endearing him to a little girl named Fern. She is his protector, and he is the hero."

"Charlotte A. Cavatica ('but just call me Charlotte') is the heroine, a large gray spider 'about the size of a gumdrop.' She has eight legs and can wave them in friendly greeting. When her friends wake up in the morning she says
'Salutations!' -- in spite of sometimes having been up all night herself, working. She tells Wilbur right away that she drinks blood, and Wilbur on first acquaintance begs her not to say that."

From the Estate of Garth Williams.

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