JANE KENDALL. "The Nutcracker: A Ballet Cut-Out Book." Group of 16 finished and working drawings for Kendall's book "The Nutcracker: A Ballet Cut-out Book" (Boston: David R. Godine, 1984). Transparent watercolor dyes, ink, and marker on paper. Average image size is 279x350mm; 11x13 3/4 inches, on 14 1/2x17 1/4-inch boards; largest framed piece artwork ("Waltz of the Flowers and Courtiers.") measures 21 3/4x13 3/4 inches, in a 29x21-inch frame. Inventory available upon request. A copy of the published work accompanies this lot.
A charming set of illustrations for a paper cut-out theater by Kendall, a Greenwich, CT artist who has illustrated over two dozen books for trade and educational publishers. She works in two distinct and wholly different styles: a crisp, finely detailed pen-and-ink and watercolor style, of which "The Nutcracker: A Ballet Cut-out Book" and "Petrouchka: A Ballet Cut-out Book" (both published by David Godine, 1984) are examples. Both were featured in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Fine Art Christmas catalogs. She also worked in a shaded pencil photo-realistic style, with which she illustrated her young adult novel, "Miranda and the Movies" (Crown, 1989). This critically acclaimed book was a Junior Library Guild selection for Advanced Readers, and launched Ms. Kendall on a writing career. Ensuing works include the sequel, "Miranda Goes to Hollywood," and "All in Good Time," a nationally serialized time travel adventure, and two titles in the popular Random House Horse Diaries series: "Tennessee Rose" (2012) and "Maestoso Petra" (2010).
