I noticed in the NYT this morning this interesting headline: “Illustrator Maira Kalman observes, as Tocqueville did, the essence of democracy.” Wow. What a treat. Kalman evidently has recently visited a New England town hall meeting and the visit inspired this work. It is sort of a long poem — illustrated them with great drawings. I think she has some good insight into the essence of democracy.
I found a TED video of a Kalman presentation. She seems an endearing person. In the presentation she discusses a lot of her illustrations and explains some of her inspiration. (I embedded the video below.)
I checked the NYT for previous Kalman presentations, and found one that she completed in honor of Barack Obama’s inauguration. It is called, “Hallelujah” And in its first frame is a wonderfully drawn angel. I think Kalman is quite a poet. Her narration goes:
The angels are singing on this glorious day. And we mortals driving down to Washington, passing white mountains and black mountains of unidentified industrial stuff, listen to Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sing words from a Bach cantata, “Now is the time of grace.” The heart is racing and all I can say is Hallelujah
