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What on earth do I do next? Will I ever have another good idea?
At the end of the 1950s, Ted Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) had scaled the cultural summit. The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! had vaulted him from beloved author to pop-culture icon, a household name whose creations redefined children’s literature. And yet, precisely there, on the peak, he confronted the quiet cliff of uncertainty that stalks many of us in our moments of accomplishment: “What on earth do I do next? Will I ever have another good idea?”
Artist Worrying captures that precipice. It is the intimate admission behind the public legend, a moment of imposter syndrome rendered with candor and wit. The work invites us into the thin air of creativity, where nothing is guaranteed and the next step must be invented, not inherited.
Mixed-Media Pigment Print on Acid-Free Paper
Authorized Estate Edition
Image and Paper Size: 39 5/8” x 28 7/8”
Limited Edition of 850 Arabic Numbers
155 Collaborators’ Proofs
99 Patrons’ Collection
5 Hors d’Commerce
2 Printer’s Proofs
Adapted posthumously from the circa 1957 original preproduction drawing for the 1957 book, The Cat in the Hat.
Ted commented that he worried people would “take one look and recognize me as a fraud.”
After having ascended to international fame following the release of The Cat in the Hat and How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Ted commented that he worried people would “take one look and recognize me as a fraud.” That confession can be seen as defeatist, or as empowerment – depending upon how we choose to use it. Ted used it to fuel a series of private works that helped him find his way, including rare paintings such as Green Cat in Uleåborg Finland Subway and Fooling Nobody.
Green Cat in Uleåborg Finland Subway
Fooling Nobody
The now coveted painting, Self Portrait of the Artist Worrying About His Next Book, was a defining moment in that string of remarkably vulnerable paintings, each showing an artist working to reclaim his agency and turn anxiety into action.
This dynamic new sculpture challenges us all in such moments, helping us move from “Now what?” to what is next. After we hit our goals – whether it be family, professional or otherwise - do we freeze, or do we move? Ted models an emotionally intelligent path forward, acknowledge the fear and then transforming it into action.
Fooling Nobody
What followed ‘Self Portrait of The Artist Worrying About His Next Book’ is the twist that makes this image legendary.
Ted Geisel’s next project was Green Eggs and Ham, a masterwork of determination and open-mindedness that became one of the best-selling titles in the English language upon release.
Green Eggs and Ham 60th Anniversary
The book, a self-portrait of sorts, draws upon Ted’s own story of determination and open-mindedness when he attempted to publish his first book nearly 20 years earlier. 28 publishers rejected him before the 29th was openminded enough to take a chance.
It’s as if Ted needed to re-write that story (this time as Sam trying to peddle Green Eggs and Ham) to pick himself up and remind himself of his own determination all of those years earlier.
Look closely at the sculpture’s expression, the long, searching visage, the furred shoulders drawn up as if bracing for an answer that has not arrived. Ted used this very “dilemma face” decades earlier in his unorthodox taxidermy, most notably the Sea-Going Dilemma Fish, as it distilled the feeling of being caught between possibilities – the Dilemma Fish has both fins and horns, a dilemma incarnate. Here, in his self-portrait, he turns that vocabulary on himself with disarming honesty.
Sea-Going Dilemma Fish
It’s fitting that Ted used this idea throughout his career – the notion that dilemmas push us forward and open us up to opportunities we never dreamed possible.
The Grinch, just prior to his heart growing three sizes, displayed the same facial expression as seen here while pondering what the holidays were really about. Was he right, or were the Who’s? Should he continue on his quest to steal Christmas, or join the Who’s in celebration of what really matters most?
The face of The Grinch 60th Anniversary
From A Large Family of Dilemmas
The expression seems to have manifested itself early in Ted’s artistic output, as painted in the Large Family of Dilemmas. Here, the wayward student represents Ted in 1926 on the horns of a great dilemma – stay in school at Oxford College or drop-out and travel to Paris to experience the central axis of the artworld? Indeed, the stretched and sideways face proclaims a similar problem, and thankfully for all Dr. Seuss fans, Ted determined that Paris was the appropriate next step. Wild inspiration followed, and Ted the artist began to emerge.
Please contact your local gallery for how to acquire and to learn more.
