Feb 06 2009
Who is Clement Hurd?
Clement G. Hurd was an American illustrator of children’s books. He was born on January 12, 1908 and became best known for his collaborations with author Margaret Wise Brown, including Goodnight Moon in 1947, which has since sold more than two million copies. He also illustrated The Runaway Bunny (1942) and a number of books written by his wife Edith (a friend of Brown’s) as well as a children’s book written by Gertrude Stein, The World Is Round (1938).
The son of a New York mortgage banker, Hurd was educated at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. He then studied architecture at Yale University as well as painting with Fernand Léger in Paris. On seeing two of his paintings, Margaret Wise Brown asked him if he would consider illustrating children’s books.
His son Thacher Hurd is also a children’s book author and illustrator, and referred in an interview to the “wonderful aura of creativity” surrounding his father and the Vermont farm that was their home.
A doctored/altered photo of Hurd was included in the 60th anniversary republication of Goodnight Moon with a cigarette removed from his hand, causing controversy over publication standards. A New York Times article wrote “In the great green room, there is a telephone, and a red balloon, but no ashtray. “Goodnight Moon,” the children’s classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free.”
Hurd died February 5, 1988.
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