Publisher's Weekly Review
Those who know Dr. Seuss mostly via his Cat or Grinch will appreciate the portrait of the artist as a young man named Ted Geisel contained in this volume of reminiscences and art work (originally published as Secrets of the Deep). Geisel graduated from Dartmouth in 1925 and pursued graduate studies at Oxford, hoping to become a professor. A suggestion from his classmate and future wife prompted a move to New York City, where Geisel drew advertisements and cartoons. His early work balances naivete and sophistication: the marrying bugs in "The Flit Gun Wedding" live under threat of insecticide, while a Ballyhoo magazine cover boy reads The Facts of Life. Even in his so-called serious artwork, Geisel seemed compelled to embellish his images with clever turns of phrase: a man carrying a very large, long-necked, yellow bird is described as "A Man Who Has Made an Unwise Purchase." Geisel's animal sculptures-the heads of imaginary creatures mounted like game for display-have wonderful monikers, such as "Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn." The book also features original layouts from Geisel's most famous children's books. Altogether, this collection makes it easy to fall in love with Dr. Seuss again. Illus. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Everyone who grew up entertained, provoked, and enlightened by Dr. Seuss books will love this big, color-saturated volume covering 70 years of published and private art by the master of smart, loopy fun. Here are examples of Theodor Geisel's clever, now ironic advertising work, including a rambunctious campaign for Flit, an insecticide containing DDT. Geisel's political cartoons and magazine illustrations are animated by his phenomenal gift for line and color, mischievous humor, and humanitarian values. It is thrilling, too, to see the original drawings for Green Eggs and Ham and other Seuss classics. But the big discoveries in this bountiful and redefining volume are his Midnight Paintings, surreal watercolors, oils, and acrylics featuring tiny figures in a vast, labyrinthine world, and private versions of his expressive characters, especially the Cat, his alternate identity. Geisel's vibrant, trippy, hilarious, and poignant art plays on Hieronymus Bosch, M. C. Escher, and Persian miniatures. Every creature, plant, architectural marvel, object, and landscape is wriggling, leaping, flying, arcing, tilting, and rolling. When he dives into abstraction, he plunges into a deep chromatic sea, while his taxidermic sculptures prove just how real his sweet and goofy invented critters were to him. Spectacular reproductions and excellent, if episodic, commentary map Geisel's exuberant, world-altering artistic journey on what he would call long wiggled roads into weirdish wild space. --Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
This beautifully produced book was originally published as Secrets of the Deep and accompanied a traveling exhibition, The Art of Dr. Seuss. Fans of Dr. Seuss (Ted Geisel) will find here many of the characters they've come to love, but the scope and intent of the book is to show that there is much more to Geisel's art than most realize, much of which is more appropriate for adults than children. Particularly striking are the examples of his "midnight paintings," images that he intended to be shown only after his death. The familiar humor, use of color and trademark fantastic creatures are present and recognizable but the work is clearly personal, beyond any limitations his image and commercial considerations may have imposed upon his other work. The book is rounded out with informative biographical text and other seldom-seen examples of Geisel's early illustration work and political satire. -VERDICT An appealing gift book for Seuss and children's literature enthusiasts and a fine portrait of an important figure in American art, illustration, and children's literature.-Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.