[Must I Type Words Here to Spoil the Silence?]

h1 November 29th, 2012 by jules


“I say to you today, my friends, that even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.”


“With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together,
knowing that we will be free one day.”


“And when this happens, when we allow freedom [to] ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands
and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: …”


“Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

(Click each spread to enlarge)

Normally, here at 7-Imp, I’ll open a post with an illustration, say a bit about the book, and then show some more art.

As I was telling some friends yesterday, these spreads from Kadir Nelson just blow me away. Even though I’ve seen the book multiple times. Even though I go to Kadir’s illustrations each and every time knowing that he’s mega-talented and likely to take my breath away and knock me off my feet.

So, I decided to just post all of them at once. In silence, so to speak. No talking till after you see them. Here we are then.

Besides, I couldn’t pick which one to open with. They’re all stunning.

These exquisite oil paintings come from I Have a Dream, released by Schwartz & Wade in October, the only picture book version of Dr. King’s famous speech in print. This is an excerpt of the speech, of course, but the speech in its entirety is included at the book’s close, and it also includes on CD the official recording from the March on Washington. I wrote about it at Kirkus here over a week ago, if you’d like to read more about it.

For now, I think I’ll keep staring at these spreads.

* * * * * * *

I HAVE A DREAM. Text copyright © 1963 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., copyright renewed 1991 by Coretta Scott King, and the Heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr. Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Kadir Nelson. Published by Schwartz & Wade Books, New York. Spreads used with permission of publisher.





5 comments to “[Must I Type Words Here to Spoil the Silence?]”

  1. Kadir Nelson’s art has such an amazing luminous quality. I am really looking forward to seeing this book in its entirety!


  2. […] 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast: I had seen about this book on this blog before, but I could have never imagined the images that I saw today. The illustrations were beyond beautiful. I cannot picture that speak anymore beautifully than what that book portrays. Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. […]


  3. WOWEEE! I just love his work, and these are gorgeous. I am really looking forward to the book. Thanks for sharing them.


  4. I love how you tweeted one word–Kadir–and I scurried right on over here to see. Breathtaking…
    Thanks, Jules.


  5. Unbelievable. The aesthetic perfection would be enough in itself to kill me. But those expressions–oh, my.


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