Curator’s Tour: Eric Carle’s Picture Books

There’s a certain joy to viewing picture books in print that tablet and smartphone screens will never be able to compete with. The Frist is currently celebrating this fact by honoring iconic children’s book author and illustrator Eric Carle in the exhibit The Eric Carle’s Picture Books: Celebrating 50 Years of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The museum show features more than 100 original artworks — some rare and others delightfully recognizable — by the 90-year-old author. While the exhibit is largely based on Carle’s most celebrated book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, it also hosts images from the 70-plus other books he’s written or illustrated, among them Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and The Grouchy Ladybug. On Thursday, Frist curator Trinita Kennedy will lead a tour of the exhibition so audiences of all ages can engage more deeply with the artwork. It’s rare to find an art exhibit capable of delighting several generations — for that reason we can be grateful to the Frist. Noon at the Frist, 919 Broadway; exhibition remains on view through Feb. 23 KELSEY BEYELER