For the Del Rey edition of The Purple Prince of Oz, Michael Herring provided an image of Kabumpo, Jinnicky and Randy sliding down a rainbow crossing the Deadly Desert into Oz. This incident was written well before the MGM film and hit song Over the Rainbow.Here we have another wonderful pink sky, and a very apprehensive Kabumpo. As the travelers are heading into the Winkie Country of Oz, where everything is yellow, I'd expect a more golden sky - but the pink is very effective.
John R. Neill also illustrated this scene, from a different angle. I think I prefer his rainbow, as it looks a bit more subtle in terms of color.
The image on the book cover is cropped, as always. In this case, I think it loses the sense of space and traveling through the air. Ruth Plumly Thompson did like to send her characters flying!
Did you buy these paintings directly from Mr Herring? Does he have any OZ paintings left to sell and if so, how do I contact him?
ReplyDeleteI bought these paintings a few years ago from a gallery in New York called Graphic Collectibles. There may be a few left - I'd suggest contacting them, they can be found online.
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