Now young readers can proclaim, ‘I SPY Walter Wick at the High’

If you wanted to train generations of children to be attentive museumgoers and to look deeply at artwork, you couldn’t have a better instructor than photographic illustrator Walter Wick.

For more than three decades, Wick’s “I SPY!” and “Can You See What I See?” series of young reader books have captivated his audiences with their elaborate, visually engrossing collaged images.

In a serendipitous collision of the world of children’s books and a museum setting that also rewards careful looking, Wick’s books are at the center of the High Museum of Art exhibition opening Friday, “I SPY! Walter Wick’s Hidden Wonders.”

Work by beloved children's book photographic illustrator Walter Wick will be on view at the High Museum in “I SPY! Walter Wick’s Hidden Wonders,” starting Friday and continuing through Jan. 3, 2027. (Courtesy of the High Museum of Art)

“Walter’s work is incredible, in part, because it rewards close looking and sparks imagination,” said Andrew Westover, the High’s director of learning and civic engagement and “I SPY!’s” organizing curator.

“Every part of the image is intentional: He takes great care to activate the full image with details and techniques that surprise and delight. These images are clever in the best sense: thoughtful and skillful, imaginative and smart. Wick’s photographs build new worlds with everyday objects and childhood toys. This world-building often inspires readers. Preparing this exhibition, I’ve met many adults who cite his books as critical for their own imaginative growth,” Westover said.

The exhibition features large-scale photographs from Wick’s books that allow viewers to see deeper into his work and catch more details. The largest survey of Wick’s work to date, the “I SPY!” exhibition will also feature his early photographs of optical illusions in nature (visual tricks are an ongoing fascination for the artist) and three-dimensional models that serve as the starting point for his photographic illustrations.

“Over many years, I’ve observed that my readers — even those not yet of reading age — have extraordinary visual acuity,” Wick said of the overlap between looking at his books and at art on museum walls. “Not all art demands such scrutiny, but yes, I’d like to think those skills are applicable throughout any museum — from old masters to folk art to contemporary art as well.”

Clouds, from "I SPY Fantasy" (2021) by Walter Wick. (Courtesy of the High Museum of Art)

Wick, who grew up in Connecticut but now lives in Miami, builds his worlds from a library of about 20,000 props, many of them vintage toys. He said he sometimes supplements that collection with items sourced from flea markets or secondhand sources.

“I grew up outside of Hartford in a rural community, so a lot of my world building was outdoors — treehouses, forts, makeshift battle scenes populated with miniature figures. Indoors, it might be a cardboard box post office, a card house city or home-built toys,” he said.

In adulthood, Wick ended up working as a professional photographer in New York City, where he said he realized he needed an angle to stand out in a competitive industry. “I adopted a playful approach to still life photography in order to showcase my special effect skills and highlight my interest in games and illusion,” he said.

Work with Games magazine eventually led to a fruitful connection to Let’s Find Out magazine’s now-former editor Jean Marzollo, who provided riddles for the first in Wick’s successful “I SPY” book series.

The Sudoku or crossword puzzle of the short pants set, Wick’s books challenge and delight with their puzzle-like arrangements of wooden BLOCKS, metal race cars and plastic toys, all incorporated into compositions packed with detail and opportunities for the eye to roam and wander.

“Typically, every square inch of ‘I SPY’ and ‘Can You See What I See?’ pictures is activated to keep readers looking at the entire field of the image area,” Wick said. “And it’s not just about the hidden objects; there’s often hidden puzzles, illusions and elaborate narratives to discover. That’s what this exhibition is meant to highlight.”

City Blocks, from “I SPY Fantasy" (2021) by Walter Wick. (Courtesy of the High Museum of Art)

“I SPY!” continues the High’s ongoing series of exhibitions dedicated to children’s books curated by Westover.

“One of the great gifts of the children’s picture book exhibition series is that they treat children seriously,” Westover said. “These exhibitions operate at the same scale and with the same rigor of all our exhibitions; they’re in the same spaces, and they welcome people of all ages to engage fully.”

The show was organized by the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, Connecticut, where the High Museum’s former curator of American art Stephanie Heydt is now director of collections and exhibitions.

Westover was a childhood fan of Wick’s work. “I love a game, a good puzzle, a riddle. Walter Wick’s work is fantastic in part because his photographs incorporate all of these and more. They’re a delight to experience on your own, and they’re fun to look at with friends — there’s always more to discover.”

Though Wick said that the amount of preparation and planning involved in creating his installations makes them complex undertakings, the point at which he begins to build his worlds before photographing them puts him in touch with his younger self.

“It’s during the arrangement of those props on set that I’m flying on pure intuition. That’s the moment I’m channeling the childlike spirit of imaginative play,” Wick said.

Wick’s fan base has often led to unexpected gigs, like the time he created the artwork for the British ethereal pop band Cocteau Twins’ album “Four-Calendar Café.” Lead singer Robin Guthrie’s daughter read the “I SPY” books.