2-944-897 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Ferdinand the Bull, [193-]. 'Federal Theatre Presents - Mr. Leaf and Ferdinand - Ferdinand the Bull - Munro Leaf's World's Famous Animal Favorite in a Marionette Production'. Poster advertising a puppet show based on Leaf's story about a gentle bull in rural Spain who prefers smelling flowers to bullfighting. The book caused controversy because Ferdinand was regarded by some as a pacifist symbol. Banned in Spain and burned as propaganda in Nazi Germany, the book had over 60 foreign translations and has never gone out of print. The Federal Theatre Project, created by the U.S. Works Progress Administration in 1935, was designed to conserve and develop the skills of theater workers, re-employ them on public relief, and to bring theater to thousands in the United States who had never before seen live theatrical performances.