Photographer Ryan Williams of Granby arrived at the opening day tour of the exhibition “Under the Cork Tree: The Story of Ferdinand” at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst on May 9, with his left arm inked with tattoos from the 1936 picture book written by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson.
“Ferdinand,” Leaf said at The New York Times National Book Fair on Nov. 17, 1937, “was the story of a Spanish bull that refused to go into the arena to fight, so they had to send him back home, where he settled down again to smelling the flowers.” Many see Ferdinand’s lack of fight as a fable promoting peace.
Williams says his mother was an art teacher and huge fan of picture books. “I lost her and I kind of like live her legacy by little things I do in my life—like covering myself in tattoos,” he explained. His Ferdinand tattoos were inked by Tim Brewer at Blueprint Tattoo in Hadley in 2016. “And this one is particularly meaningful to me because of pacifism. There is great power in pacifism.”
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Ryan Williams (center) with curator Jane Bayard Curley (right) at “Under the Cork Tree: The Story of Ferdinand” at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, May 9, 2026. (©Greg Cook photo) Ryan Williams’s arm is tattooed with illustrations from “The Story of Ferdinand.” (©Greg Cook photo) Ryan Williams’s arm is tattooed with illustrations from “The Story of Ferdinand.” (©Greg Cook photo) “There was a little bull and his name was Ferdinand.” Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Ryan Williams’s arm is tattooed with illustrations from “The Story of Ferdinand.” (©Greg Cook photo) “He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers.” Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Ryan Williams’s arm is tattooed with illustrations from “The Story of Ferdinand.” (©Greg Cook photo) “He didn’t look where he was sitting…” Robert Lawson, Illustration for The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, 1936. The Morgan Library & Museum, 1970.16:1-37, Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Ryan Williams’s arm is tattooed with illustrations from “The Story of Ferdinand.” (©Greg Cook photo) Book cover for The Story of Ferdinand illustrated by Robert Lawson and written by Munro Leaf, 1936. © 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, renewed 1964 Munro Leaf and John W. Boyd. Used by permission of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. 
