A Make Way for Ducklings Exhibit Is Coming to the MFA

Drawing for ‘Make Way for Ducklings’ by Robert McCloskey / Courtesy of the May Massee Collection, Emporia State University Special Collections and Archives, Emporia State University and courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The beloved illustrations in Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings will be coming off the page and onto the walls of the Museum of Fine Arts this November.

In honor of the book’s 75th anniversary, an upcoming exhibit titled “Make Way for Ducklings: The Art of Robert McCloskey” will display the many works of the two-time Caldecott Medal winner. More than 50 illustrations will be on view, tracing the artist’s career from Make Way for Ducklings to other books like Blueberries for Sal and Time of Wonder.

The famed story of a family of mallards waddling around Boston has continued to capture the hearts of New Englanders since it was first published in 1941. The treasured tale has been immortalized in the Public Garden with Nancy Schön’s bronze statue, which is said to be sat on so often by children that it never needs to be polished. A miniature version of Schön’s statue will be on view in the exhibit.

The display will also highlight some of author-illustrator’s work connected to American painters like Edward Hopper and Thomas Hart Benton. Many of the exhibited works are being drawn from the rarely seen May Massee Collection at Emporia State University in Kansas.

“Make Way for Ducklings: The Art of Robert McCloskey” will be on view starting November 25, 2016, through June 18, 2017, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 465 Huntington Ave., see mfa.org for more information.