I’ll Have Whatever Beatrix Potter’s Having

Excuse me while I whisk myself away to the North Country (in my mind)

If you were a child of the 90s like me, you might have watched The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends animated series (on VHS, mind). If you did, you might remember the intro, in which a faux Beatrix Potter escapes her rained-out plein air watercolor session for the creature comforts of her country cottage.

And if you were really like me, you wanted to be her so very badly.

Nothing could have been closer to my dream life. I don’t think I have actually grown out of this fantasy, which is fine and completely acceptable because now the kids have legitimized it with the very official term “cottagecore.”

Every part of this picture enchanted me, not least of all when she dishes out some serious sass to that duck. But on reflection, it was mainly the “dramatic” bits… The looming threat of an absolute downpour, the art supplies getting rained on (mercy!!), and the dark and old-as-muck cottage by firelight.

PSA: You know what kids want? Melancholy. The children want melancholy, damnit!

And of course, their own personal menageries. I was definitely one of those animal fanatic kids (you know the ones), so any stories of the beastly persuasion were my cuppa tea. Potter certainly provided these in spades.

On a recent jaunt to New York City (byeee, kids and responsibilities!), I stole away from my travel companions to spend an afternoon at the Morgan Library & Museum and its visiting exhibition, Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature.

With the delicious freedom to be as excruciatingly slow as I wanted, I shuffled around, drinking in each image and its associated plaque, only mildly irritated when strangers impeded my momentum by trying to look at the same thing as me.

The first room of the exhibition focused on Potter’s background and childhood, and it was interesting to see just how early she started to forge her own path. By a young age she already knew what she wanted, namely: city living = no, country living = yes, animals = will take them dead or alive, thanks.

Beatrix Potter was also one of those animal fanatic kids, but in a way that puts me sorely to shame. Along with her brother Bertram she was a devoted caretaker of many small animals (like, in her bedroom), which she drew and observed closely, and then proceeded to stuff and boil for further documentation once they had died. A real circle-of-life kind of gal.

I used to think I wanted to be a veterinarian until I realized I couldn’t emotionally handle all the “bad bits” and so here I am drawing animals living out their happy destinies as ordained by my childhood imagination.

The second room of the exhibition focused on Potter’s books and career. There was a lot of original art, which was a real treat to see. There was also an incredible amount of documentation of her book-making and editing process, including roughs, dummy books, and lots of back-and-forth with her publisher. It didn’t seem too dissimilar from the process today.

Original art

Dummy book for The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Sorry for the photo quality. There was a lot of dodging people’s heads and such. I used to never take photos of art in museums — only scoffed at people who did. But this is who I am now.

My favorite part of the exhibition was probably its collection of Potter’s “picture letters.” Basically she was pen-palling around with some kids she knew, and would tell them all about her daily life and her pets, peppering the letters with the most charming little pen-and-ink drawings and stories. (I’ve actually grown to dislike “charming” as a descriptor for most picture book-related things because it feels a bit non-specific and lazy, but in this case I relent.)

“My rabbit Peter is lazy, he lies before the fire in a box with a little rug. His claws grow too long, quite uncomfortable, so I tried to cut them with scissors but they were so hard that I had to use the big garden scissors. He sat quite still and allowed me to do his little front paws but when I cut the other hind foot claws he was tickled and kicked, very naughty. If he were a wild rabbit digging holes they would be worn down and would not need cutting.

Here are some rabbits throwing snowballs.”

As a big fat cherry on top of all the other cool stuff she did, Beatrix Potter lived out her later years as a sheep farmer, and upon her death left 4,000 acres of land and 14 farms to the National Trust. In summary, my fangirling for all these years was 100% warranted.

Sadly the exhibit is now over, essentially making this post just one giant tease (sorry), but if you’d like to know more,

The Illustration Department

did a great interview with the exhibition’s curator, Philip Palmer. Unlike yours truly, he actually knows what he’s talking about, and it’s almost like being there!

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Other highlights of my trip:

• I walked over 19,000 steps the first day and did not even get a blister in my new shoes. I won’t tell you what my typical daily step count is because it’s too embarrassing.

Proof

• I visited the New York-Dublin Portal (this was right before they temporarily shut it down for very predictable inappropriate behavior) and witnessed a guy taking a photo with his sister in Dublin. It was a nice moment.

• My mom texted me from back home, with the news that she was able to get my children to sleep using this album of music for dogs:

• I bought too many books, which was a great idea until I had to carry their combined weight back to my hotel on foot. Heck, it was still a great idea.

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