Illustrator Hilary Knight Donates Eloise, Other Works to NYPL

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By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 11/10/2009

Eloise has found another home—the New York Public Library (NYPL). Hilary Knight, the artist best-known for creating the classic character Eloise with Kay Thompson, has donated to the NYPL the papers documenting his more than 50-year career as an illustrator and author.

Pencil Water Color Sketch for Plaza Painting (1964). Illustration by Hilary Knight

Included is a colored pencil sketch by Knight of the painting he created of Eloise, which hangs in the Plaza. Knight is also donating his Eloise scrapbook, in which he kept the reviews, articles, promotional materials, and other item documenting the huge success of Eloise after its release in 1955. There are also original illustrations, sketches, dummy, publicity, reviews research photos, and early drawings for Eloise Takes a Bawth, which Knight conceived with Thompson in the 1960s but was not published until 2002.

Aside from materials relating to Eloise, the collection includes detailed documentation of Knight’s other books. Included are the original drawings, sketches, dummies, research, publicity and other materials for such works as The Circus is Coming, a colorful, stylized depiction of the circus parade, originally published in 1978, Where’s Wallace, the classic 1964 book of detailed panoramas in which readers search for a hidden Orangutan, and Sunday Morning, written by Judith Viorst, which features stylized silhouettes to tell the story of two boys who try to follow their parents’ wishes to sleep in on Sunday.

Also included are materials relating to Knight’s classic theatre posters created for such shows as Irene and No, No Nanette, as well as drawings hecreated in recent years for Vanity Fair, where he is a contributing editor.

“Eloise is an icon of New York, a classic character who has represented the verve and excitement of Manhattan for generations of readers,” says library president Paul LeClerc, who made the announcement November 2 at the annual Library Lions dinner. “We are very pleased that her heritage will be preserved in the heart of the city, here at the New York Public Library, along with the rest of the striking, imaginative works that Hilary Knight has envisioned and realized in his accomplished career.”

Knight, who was an honoree that evening, said Manhattan had been his home since the 1930s when he moved there as a child with his parents, artists/writers Clayton Knight and Katharine Sturges.

“The New York Public Library, and particularly its extraordinary picture collection, has been an invaluable help to me during my career,” Knight says. “So it is a special honor that my work will join the library’s collections. And Eloise herself is absolutely thrilled with her new residence.”

Eloise is the spunky, imaginative, and mischievous six-year-old girl who lives in the Plaza Hotel, where she entertains herself and spices up the lives of the staff members and guests who surround her. She was created by Kay Thompson, a well-known nightclub performer and personality, but it was Knight’s drawings that brought Eloise to life.

Originally published in 1955, the book gradually became beloved by a generation of readers. The original Eloise was followed by Eloise in Paris, Eloise at Christmastime, Eloise in Moscow, and Eloise Takes a Bawth.

“We are delighted and honored that Hilary Knight has chosen The New York Public Library as the home for his creative archive,” says David Ferriero, the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries. “What could be more New York than Eloise and Hilary Knight?!”