Sugar and Spice (original book illustration)

No place, 1970. Original illustration by Alice and Martin Provensen for The Golden Book of Fun and Nonsense, a 1970 anthology of humorous verse edited by poet Louis Untermeyer. The whimsical image depicts girls in fancy frocks whose buttons are knobs that open drawers full of candy, a reference to the nursery rhyme: “What are little girls made of? / Sugar and spice and everything nice.” Though the verse itself is not included in the anthology, this illustration, published on the contents page, sets the stage for the “fun and nonsense” to follow. A companion image, in which the placket of a boy’s sailor coat reveals a cabinet containing “snips, snails, and puppy dogs’ tails,” appears on the overleaf. Before winning both Newbery and Caldecott medals in the 1980s, prolific illustrators Alice and Martin Provensen collaborated on a number of popular and affordable Golden Books. Fun and Nonsense was the third Giant Golden Book edited by Untermeyer to be illustrated by the pair, following Aesop’s Fables (1965) and Tales from the Ballet (1968). A wonderful signed illustration from the collection of children’s illustrator Mo Willems. Watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper, measuring 4.5 x 4.25 inches, sight size. Signed “Alice and Martin Provensen” in pencil, lower image. Faint brush spotting to image background. Archivally framed and matted to 13 x 12.5 inches.