Jim Henson's Legacy

NMAH: Muppets and Mechanisms: Jim Henson's Legacy: "Muppets and Mechanisms: Jim Henson's Legacy

May 19, 2006-September 4, 2006, first floor west at the Lemelson Center and third floor west "

The products of Jim Henson’s imagination have reached across generations and communities with warmth, wild humor, and fantasy. They combine the razzle-dazzle of American popular culture with technological innovation. Henson’s work transformed both the art and the science of puppetry from the simple, cloth, hand-and-rod Muppets to the complex figures of the 1982 film The Dark Crystal, which used a remote-controlled system of movement called animatronics. The objects displayed on the Museum’s first and third floors represent two important eras and achievements in Henson’s extraordinary career. Whether it’s the fleece-and-foam zaniness of the Muppets or the intricate creatures of The Dark Crystal, his work exhibits a constant and enduring appeal.