A museum exhibition in the US is paying tribute to Jim Henson, the man behind The Muppets and Sesame Street.

The master puppeteer and media innovator behind pop culture characters such as Kermit the Frog and Big Bird was a creative thinker who understood the opportunities that television and technology presented, said Karen Falk, archivist for The Jim Henson Company and curator of Jim Henson’s Fantastic World.

“Jim was the first one to recognise that you can use television and get these incredibly expressive and believable performances out of puppets,” Ms Falk said.

“This was his innovation, he was the one who started this whole thing. This is why puppetry looks like this on television, because of this man.” The touring exhibit opening today is making its last stop of a multi-year trip at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, where it will be on display into January.

It is fitting that the final stop is in New York – the museum is near Kaufman Astoria Studios, where Sesame Street is taped.

Jim Henson’s puppet creations including Big Bird and Bert and Ernie have been a vital part of what has made the children’s show a global success for decades.

The final stop is also getting something other locations did not. Joining the drawings, cartoons and puppets on display is Miss Piggy, decked out as a bride from her stint in The Muppets Take Manhattan.

“She wasn’t travelling with the exhibit, she’s very sensitive,” Ms Falk said with a laugh.