Sawfish with Such a Long Snout (McElligot’s Pool)

The original painting of Sawfish with Such a Long Snout was created for McElligot’s Pool, one of the only books to include fully developed watercolor paintings for each and every page.

McElligot’s Pool beautifully fosters Seuss’s message to “use your imagination.”

Theodor Seuss Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) delighted millions worldwide as author and illustrator of some of the 20th Century's most beloved books for children.

However, the paintings and illustrations included in the Dr. Seuss Archival Works show another facet of Geisel's artistic expressions as seen in his political cartoons, advertising illustrations, select private works and some of his more obscure books for children.

Two of Seuss's notable projects in the late 1920s and early 1930s, included a national ad campaign for Standard Oil of New Jersey, as well as Life and Judge magazine covers. Geisel's hallmark wit and whimsy was already evident in these works, as it was in his early paintings done for select books in the 1940s and 1950s.

The enduring satirical messages of Dr. Seuss's Archival Works are a testament to his sharp creativity and his poignant comments on life throughout the 20th Century.