Eric Carle is the renowned author and illustrator of more than 70 books, including the 1969 classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In the early 1980s, the Eric and Barbara Carle traveled to Japan, where they visited several picture book museums. Inspired, they decided to create a museum in the United States that would also honor picture books, as works of art and for their educational value. The Carles founded the Museum in November 2002.
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art houses more than 13,000 objects, including 6,600 permanent collection illustrations, three art galleries, an art studio, a theater, picture book and scholarly libraries, and educational programs for families, scholars, educators, and schoolchildren. Among the many works in our collection, The Carle has large holdings of Leo Lionni, William Steig, Petra Mathers, Arnold Lobel, Ashley Bryan, and Simms Taback. They also have important work by Arthur Rackham, Ludwig Bemelmans, Maurice Sendak, Margot Zemach, Rosemary Wells, Jerry Pinkney, Allen Say, Chris Van Allsburg, Garth Williams, Trina Schart Hyman, and many others.
