INTRODUCTION

“Primo Libro”

A few years ago, shortly before I left to spend a month as a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome, I was strolling down lower Fifth Avenue in New York City when I spotted a table full of used books for sale. I’m always on the lookout for books that inspire me. On the table was a threadbare copy of an illustrated book from the 1960s, The Golden Children’s Bible. This was the first book I remember reading as a child growing up in rural Missouri. I was flooded with fond memories of discovering these Bible stories for the first time in Sunday School. I bought the book and packed it in my suitcase to take with me to Rome. The seed of an idea for my next book was planted right there on the sidewalks of New York.

I traveled to Rome envisioning the Bible stories coming to life as my next pop-up book. I soon found myself surrounded (and often overwhelmed) by some of the finest art ever created, and many works were inspired by these timeless biblical narratives. The subject matter was so vast and varied that I was having a difficult time deciding which stories to focus on.

I saw an announcement pinned to the bulletin board about a day trip being organized to travel outside of Rome to visit a palazzo and garden. One of my favorite activities while visiting a foreign country is to tour historic houses and gardens. Since I was feeling stuck artistically at that moment, I immediately signed up for the trip. There is nothing like driving through the countryside of Italy to get the creative juices flowing.
Little did I know at the time that visiting a palazzo would crystallize my concepts for the book I wanted to create. Our first stop, Palazzo Farnese di Caprarola, was a bit off the beaten track. We were allowed to roam the rooms at our leisure and to take photographs of anything that caught our fancy. As so often happens when in Italy, I walked in to a magnificent room with elaborate frescoes, and my eye was drawn to the oval painting on the ceiling. Lo and behold it was a sixteenth-century painting of the story of Jacob and the angels climbing the ladder between heaven and earth, from the Book of Genesis. The painting was dynamic and dramatic, and told the story of Jacob’s Ladder in one (immense) image. I realized instantly that I should concentrate on just one chapter from the Bible, and that I should start at the very beginning with the Book of Genesis. The seed I had brought with me to Italy began to grow, and I named it “primo libro.”

As with all healthy growth (of seeds or anything else), patience and nurturing are very important, not to mention a good amount of faith. I dove into the project with gusto and the book started to develop very nicely. At that point my publisher, Little, Brown and Company, asked me to develop a Christmas book to follow the recent success of my pop-up book, Christmas in New York. I put the Genesis project on hold, to work instead on  Christmas around the World.

In the winter of 2007, upon completion of the original paintings for Christmas around the World, “primo libro” began to sprout again. My biblical pop-up book began to take shape, and I found it even more stimulating going back in to the Book of Genesis for a second time. I must admit, I was somewhat intimidated to put my artistic stamp on some of the greatest stories ever told, but with the help of a wonderful collaborative team, “primo libro” continued to grow into In the Beginning:  The Art of Genesis. I realized how important it is to continue the tradition of presenting these timeless narratives, and I like to think each pop-up, booklet, and illustration is a blossom on the stalk of “primo libro..”