Photo courtesy of Relevant Communications, LLC
Theodor Seuss Geisel began collecting hats as a young man in the 1920s and eventually acquired as many as 500. Many of the hats have fallen apart with age, but 158 remain. In celebration of the 75th anniversary of Geisel's second book, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, his widow, Audrey S. Geisel, is allowing Bill Dreyer, curator and director of the Art of Dr. Seuss collection, to take 26 of the hats on tour. The traveling "Hats Off to Dr. Seuss!" exhibition will be at Midlothian's Bella Arte Gallery from March 15 to 30. The exhibition is free to attend, and Dreyer will tell behind-the-scenes stories on March 15 at 7 p.m. The show also will include prints of paintings by Geisel that weren't publicized until about 10 years ago, when they began appearing in galleries. Viewing the hats and artwork together, Dreyer says, "You can see this hat was the basis of this particular book and this hat inspired this book." 794-1511 or bella-arte.com .
