http://www.bibiana.sk/fileadmin/bibiana.sk/docs/zborniky_bib/2015/2015_1_slovensky.pdf
The International Symposium, which
is an integral part of the Biennial of Illustrations
Bratislava (BIB), among other related programs
of this multi-significant and world-renowned biennial–an institution in the
world of illustration, is being organized since the foundation of the BIB,
continuously since 1967 until today (the only exception was the year 1993).
Every year, the organizers of the Symposium have directed the authors to
investigate and write on a specific topic in the field of theory and history of
children’s book illustrations and to expose their papers at Symposiums within
the BIB.
The organizers of the BIB Symposium,
first the Slovak National Gallery from Bratislava 1967 – 1987, and later the
International House of Art for Children BIBIANA from Bratislava from 1989 to
date, have regularly published papers exposed at the Symposiums in the Miscellanies, in multiple
languages.
In the period from 1967 to 2013, the
BIB has influenced the development of illustration in the world through two
aspects that can be considered the most important. One of them is evaluating
illustration through a selection of illustrations for exibiting at the
Biennial, which has directed the currents of illustration development, and the
other, the less visible and obvious one, is theoretical, through organizing the
Symposium and the publication of the Michellany related to illustration, a great contribution was given
to the direction and development of the theory of illustration, which is a much
younger discipline than illustration in and of itself. The theory of
illustration, one might say, is still developing and it lags behind general art
theory, from which, indeed, it draws the approaches for observing illustration
artwork.
Beginning with the topics of the
Symposium, through all the years back, we see how the organizers have
approached the problem of theoretical research of illustration and how they
have, by defining topics, directed the authors of articles to deal with the
illustration as well. The topics of the Miscellanies reflect the problems of the given moment in which the
illustration was located in, in relation to general developments in the world,
the currents of art theory, the topics which are related to the theory of
illustration and which have been addressed to in a lesser extent, and the like.
The Symposiums were attended by
theorists and art historians from different countries of the world, bringing,
through articles, their own viewings of problems of the given topics of the
Symposium and presenting the specifics of illustration in their own countries,
thus making them available to authors from different socio-cultural and
specific national environments.
In 48 years more than 400 articles
of authors from a great number of countries have been published in the BIB Miscellanies, from: Russia
(former Soviet Union), Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia (formerly
Czechoslovakia), Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia (former Yugoslavia), Austria, Japan,
USA, Finland, Hungary, Turkey, Italy, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, Poland, Greece, Brazil, Bulgaria, Romania, Cuba, Nigeria,
Portugal, Iran, South Africa, Cameroon, India, Venezuela, South Korea, Latvia
etc.
It is a known fact that books on the
theory of illustration in general, not only on the theory of children’s book
illustration, aren’t in abundance, especially in smaller countries, which gives
great importance to these Miscellanies. We note that there is a greater number
of publications on the illustration of children’s books than on illustration of
other types of narratives, which causes many to draw on the achievements of the
theory of children’s book illustration even in the consideration of
illustration in non-children’s literature i non-book illustration.
For instance, in Serbia, only two
books on illustration, written by Serbian authors, have been published so far,
whilst a large number of articles has been published and scattered through
various publications that aren’t specialized in illustration. Even if there
were more books on this subject in the world, again, the significance of the
BIB Miscellanies would be unavoidable because, if we look at all the Miscellanies
as one whole, we get a cross-section of the development of illustration in the
world for a period of about 50 years, through articles of authors from
different countries, in different time periods within which illustration
existed in and within which it survived, passing through various phases. If we
consider the fact that, since recently, this wealth of theoretical
considerations of illustration is made available entirely for free on the
internet site of BIBIANA, in English in addition to Slovak (except the first
two publications that are in Slovak and in German, with some of them
additionally in Russian), it can be said that this gives a completely new
dimension to the achievements of the BIB Symposium, through the possibility
that young generations of researchers from around the world perceive
illustration through the achievements of theoretical studies within the BIB
Symposium in the last half a century, and that what separates them from this is
just one click!
This kind of a cross-section of
illustration in the world is difficult to view in some other way because it
would be necessary to study theoretical books from different countries, which
are written in different languages, which may not have been translated in
English or into a language spoken by a particular author, or which are old
editions, inaccessible to buy, located in libraries and cannot be
borrowed, which would mean that the author has to travel to study books on
illustration in other countries… All this confirms the thesis of the importance
of these Miscellanies in viewing illustration in the period of half a century,
from the perspective of different topics, contexts and viewpoints of authors
from different countries.
Many speak of the undisputed
significance of the BIB when it comes to the creation of illustration itself,
but the Symposium and the contribution of the BIB to the theoretical level is
always somehow in the background and overshadowed by the illustrations
themselves and the Biennale, which is only natural, because first the artwork
is created and then the theorists study them. But sometimes the causality is
reversed, when theory and reflection affect the development of illustrators and
their education and the sole approach to work, so that we get to a point where
theoretical study, even though secondary isn’t less important. Therefore, the
results of the BIB Symposium, in the form of the Michellany, have, through
feedback, influenced the creation of illustrations itself.
Even as early as in the BIB
Michellany published in 1971, Anna Urblik (Slovakia) noted in the Introduction
that, in addition to the existing literature on illustrated children’s books,
there still lacks a systematic review of the structure of the theory of
illustration for children, forecasting that it will be the BIB Symposiums that
will fulfil this task (Urblik 1971: 138). She also noted the lack of a
specialized theoretical magazine devoted to the illustration of children’s
books itself, about which articles are published mainly in publications devoted
to children’s literature or some other related discipline, which makes the
problem of illustration for children treated as a matter of secondary
importance. In the end, she concludes and sets as a sort of a task and further
goal of the Symposium: “The theory of illustration for children we intended to
develop at the BIB, should not abandon the principal and essential thesis of
commitment. The aesthetic function of the illustration should not be separated
from the ethic-educational and social values. Only in this way the world
illustration creative activity for children can become the co-creator of the
happy and contented life of children all over the world.” (Urblik 1971: 138).
In the same year, 1971, the effort
of the BIB Symposium was recognized as extremely important and valuable by Ela
Gankina (USSR): „In the conclusion I would like to express my admiration of the
gigantic and such a diverse activity carried out since the first Biennale by
the organisers of the BIB, the researchers of the Slovak National Gallery and
all the members of the International Curatorium of Specialists in the
literature for children. Owing to their activity only, we can nowadays present
the problem of historical-theoretical investigation of the illustration of the
book for children.” (Gankina 1971: 141)
Following the topics of the
Symposium chronologically we can see which problems preoccupied the theorists
of illustration at a given moment: the impact of illustration on emotional
education (1967), the problem of illustration as a specific genre/category
among fine arts (1969), illustration as a specific category of artistic
expression (1971), aesthetic and extra-aesthetic aspects of illustration for
children (1973), forms and methods of describing the present in the
illustrations of the books for the young (1975), Significance and Impact of
Textbook Illustration and its Contents (1977), a picture book for young
children (1979), the processes in the creation of illustrating a children’s
book (1981), the effects of artistic influences and tradition on illustrating
children’s books (1983), children and peace in the illustrations of the people
of the world (1985), a child as a hero and a bearer of the social aspect of
time in illustrated children’s books (1987), the relationship of an illustrated
book and an animated film (1989), fantasy and imagination in illustrations and
animated film (1991), illustrations as commodity – the artistic value of
illustrations in the condition of today’s book market (1995), the illustrator
and his relationship towards present conditions of life (1997), the new
millennium in illustrating children’s books (1999), Research in illustration
(2001), the phenomenon of postmodernism in children’s illustration (2003),
psychological and social aspects related to the illustrations of H. C.
Andersen’s work (2005), globalization and diversity in children’s book
illustrations (2007), the relationship between illustrations and text (in a
book of the author’s own choosing or a comparison of illustration strategies in
different editions of the book “Alice in Wonderland” by L. Carroll) (2009),
illustration in the world of new media (2011), a national cultural identity of
illustrations in the era of globalization (2013).
Viewing the listed topics in a
chronological order, we notice that the organizers have, by defining topics,
primarily directed researchers towards engaging in some fundamental or more
general issues related to children’s book illustration, such as the
relationship between the illustration for children and education, art,
aesthetics, the matter of the creative process, the influence of the artistic
tradition on illustration and the like, so that in the second half of the
Symposium’s existence, from mid 80s to date, the topics would become narrower
and more specific in relation to the given moments and the developments in
society and in art: illustration and fantasy, illustration and animated film,
illustrations of books of certain authors (Andersen, Carroll), illustration and
children and peace, to the most current and very specific topics: illustration
on the market, in the world of globalization, in postmodern terms, illustration
and new media… This does not mean that the original “more fundamental topics”
have been given definitive answers; they can always be reviewed again in
contexts offered by new time and spatial frames and theoretical achievements.
We notice very astutely selected topics in the third millennium, which
completely reflect the most current issues related to illustration in the newly
formed artistic, media and general social frameworks (postmodernism, new media,
globalization…).
The authors have, within given
topics, found room for different sub-topics or topics that are more narrowly
defined, but could be considered within the main topics. Here are some examples
of different topics on which the authors have written, that can, in this short
article on the long existence of the BIB Symposium, illustrate what some of the
authors of the articles have dealt with: Development of Artistic Feeling in
Children (Nikita Charushin, USSR, 1971), Concept and Programme of the Theory of
Illustration for Children (Frantisek Holesovski, Czechoslovakia, 1971),
Aesthetic and social aspects of Illustration of Book (Ella Gankina, USSR,
1973), Some Facts on the Colour Preference among Children and Young People
(Hieronym Florek, ČSSR 1975), Child's Perception and Interpretation of
Illustration (Anton Macko, Czechoslovakia, 1977), To the Problem of Unity of
Text and Pictures in the Book for Little Children (Leo Lionni, U.S.A, 1979), On
Artistic Design of a Children's Book (Milan Hegar, Czechoslovak Socialist
Republic, 1981), Typographic Layout of one Children's Book, or a Story of
Making one Book (L’ubomir Kratky Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, 1981),
Influence of Comics on Picture Book Production in the Federal Republic of
Germany (Otilie Dinges FRG, 1983), Art Nouveau Illustrations' Influence on the
Book of Today (Jana Brabcova, CSSR, 1983), Function of Folklore and its
Influence on Children's Book Illustration Development (Vesna Lakicevic,
Jugoslavia, 1983), The Motif of Friendship in Illustrations of Books for
Children (Jifi Iljey, CSSR, 1987), The Use of Intermediality in Children's Book
Illustration (Carla Poesio Italy, 1989-91),
The Book Cover: a Meeting Point Between Art and Advertising Communication
(Carla Poesio, Italy, 1995), DTP and Children's Books (Igor Imro, 1997),
Information Society and Illustration in Books for Children (Pirjo Julkunen,
Finland, 1999), African Illustrators and How They Work and Live (Mbala Elanga
Edmond VII, Cameroon, 2001, Illustrated Children's Books in Japan From the 8th
Century to Modern Times (Yumiko Bando Saito, Japan, 2001), Postmodernism in
Austrian Picture Books (Silke Rabus, Austria, 2003), How a Danish and a French
Illustrator approach the same Story by H. C. Andersen (Kirsten Bystrup, država
2005), The Fairy Tale Land of Children And The Age of Plasma Display (Mehrnoosh
Moshiri, Iran, 2007), The Verbal, Visual and Aural in Picture books (Riita
Oittinen, Finland, 2009), Reading Images (Regina Yolanda, Brazil, 2009), The
uses of Cinematographic Language in the Illustration of Children’s
Picture-books (Fanuel Hanán Díaz, Venezuela, 2011), My Norwegian Cultural
Identity (Bjørn Ousland, Norway, 2013).
On the basis of these examples and
the titles of papers themselves we can already gather the wealth and variety of
approaches to illustration contained in the BIB Miscellanies.
We will mention some excerpts from
the articles of some of the BIB Miscellanies that are interesting from the
perspective of the present moment, and we will comment on them, in order to
draw a parallel and compare the ways of accessing the studying of illustration
in the last half a century of the publishing of the Michellany.
For instance, in the earlier BIB Miscellanies,
the authors from the countries of the former Eastern Bloc emphasize the
importance of the didactic, pedagogical and ethical in children’s book
illustration, which, they feel, is not in opposition with the aesthetic and
artistic imperatives, and in order to implement the ruling ideologies among the
younger generations in their countries.
Boris Dekhterev (USSR) says about
this: „Anyhow, we have come to face a dilemma: whether to abandon absolutely
and decisively the view of art which asserts its total independence of each
utilitarian aim, or to consider illustration as a phenomenon that cannot be
ranged into the sphere of art. The organization of BIB as well as a whole range
of other facts proves that in contemporary society this dilemma is being solved
in favour of art as a means of ideological influence. And therefore the
statement that an illustration has its educational and pedagogical function is
not in antithesis with its artistic value, on the contrary this illustration
only asserts it.” (Dekhterev 1971: 141)
Similarly, Ella Gankina (USSR)
contemplates: „Abstract art, expressionism, surrealism as well as naturalism
penetrating into the illustrations for children of today, try to find here an
ample space for experimenting regardless of the ideological, aesthetical and
instructive nature of illustrations for children and they are very dangerous
indeed. The art of illustration of books for children can attain a higher
artistic standard and achieve the fully valuable ideological and artistic results
only there where it is sponsored by state, involved in the interest of
progressive ideas, as well as the artistic standard of books for children.”
(Gankina 1971: 147) Gankina adds that the major problem is controlling and
ensuring high-quality illustrations in „capitalist“ countries, where children’s
book illustration is related to business success and profit, which in her
words, leads not only to aesthetic but also to ideological errors.
From today’s perspective, the
problem of socialist and communist ideological influences on art and
illustration in the countries of the Eastern Bloc is interesting to consider as
something that represents an abandoned approach, but it also brings us to the
issue of whether the globalist and consumer society ideologies of today are
also projected into reality, only in a different way, so that we aren’t
aware enough just how much they shape our lives, and even how they shape art
and illustration? The BIB Miscellanies contain numerous articles by Eastern
Bloc authors in which they consider various problems of illustration in the
context of the ideologies of their countries of that time, which is important
for historians and theorists of illustration dealing with this period and with
this problem, but these articles certainly also point to the values that this
approach to illustration has had, which brings us to the fact that Gankina was
partly right, because today we are on the verge of a completely different
extreme dictated by a consumer and globalist ideology when it comes to
children’s books.
The applicability and engagement of
illustration is a question in and of itself even today, and not only in the
aforementioned ideologically coloured period. Some of the contemporary
theorists cite the problem of the attribute „applied“ art, when it comes to
illustration.
For example, in Steven Heller and Marshal Arisman’s (USA) book „Teaching illustration“ we find the following text: „Illustration is defined as an applied art. It's a definition wholly inadequate to explain the field or how it works. And yet, in many art colleges and universities, across the country, it is now expected that illustration is an applied art like graphic design. The real definition of illustration is a figurative art form based on story telling.“ (Heler, Arisman 2006: xix)
Just how much the relationship towards illustration has changed we see in how David Blend (UK) treats illustration in his illustration history published in 1969, „as an art exclusively dependent on literature, but still remarkable and valuable“ (Bland 1969: 19). In this time span, to date, illustration has won a more independent position.
Slobodan Ivkov (Serbia), a Serbian
theorist of applied arts, particularly of comics[1],
views illustration in a following way: „Narrowly speaking, illustration is only
a visual interpretation of the text printed next to it. ... Broadly speaking,
illustration is a visual interpretation of the situation and a relationship of
the author with his surroundings and the attitude towards him. ... The text
can, but needs not exist as the initial trigger for the occurrence of artwork;
it is not a conditio sine qua non,
i.e. a condition without which an illustration cannot be created. ... we come
to that that, now more narrowly speaking, a photograph standing next to a text
is also an illustration. More broadly, any photograph is by this standard, even
without text, an illustration. Alas, brought to an end, so to call it, the
thesis about the broader context is as follows: Any two-dimensional artwork performed is an illustration.“ (Ivkov,
web source)
In my Master’s paper, I defend a
thesis, through research and an explanation of an artistic project, that „an
illustration, being a moving illustration
within an audio-visual form – a video-illustration of a book – has confirmed
it’s universality, and that it’s not limited to a two-dimensional image, but
that it’s even wider, a moving, one can even say a film image, with which a
literary artwork can be illustrated with“ (Senka Vlahović Filipov 2015: 110)
Therefore, a video-illustration is an audio-visual form that channels the
message in two codes – auditory (one that is listened to: text, music, various
sounds) and visual, which illustrates the text or the message.
Jaleen Grove, a contemporary
Canadian historian and theorist of illustration cites similar statements: „In
recent years art historians have begun to question the twentieth century taboos
surrounding illustration. As the theorization of visual culture has progressed,
the reticence to appreciate drawings and paintings made for magazines,
advertisement, books and ephemera is increasingly acknowledged as symptomatic
of historical moment now passing.“ (Grove 2013: 7)
Looking at the problem of the
utility and the engagement of illustration, in the range of considering
illustration through the mentioned examples of attitudes of authors from the
countries of the Eastern Bloc, the attitude of British illustration historian
David Bland, versus several decades of later claims of the mentioned
contemporary American, Canadian and Serbian authors that illustration is
inadequately defined only as an applied art, we come to the knowledge that in
recent decades, illustration has become more appreciated and that it has been
made equal to fine art despite its potential for application. This is discussed
in one of the recent BIB Miscellanies by a Slovenian author Tanja Mastnak:
„Only in the last years book illustration rises more and more interest among
theoreticians, curators and also contemporary artists, because it is most
elaborated way of communication between textual and visual which survived all
the changes through the history of art.“ What has influenced these changes?
Mastnak states that the status of book illustration in the context of visual
arts was such that it was considered more a segment of design than of high art
and that this has changed during the last decades due to processes that took
place in contemporary art. „By the spreading of postmodernism in the seventies
of the 20th century the general attitude towards the relationship between
visual and textual has changed. Strong theoretical background influenced also
visual arts. ... Being marginalized and connected with design this particular
visual expression formed its own world, a bit separated from other visual
languages and more connected with literary worlds.“ (Mastnak 2009: 166,167)
In the same study, Tanja Mastnak
mentions a very interesting example of how a group of young artists and
curators have, in 2007, organized an exhibition entitled „The Biennial of
independents – the first promoter of Slovene contemporary illustration, its
authors and contexts“ and how they have gathered around the idea that an
illustration is “any visual commentary of the world around us“ and that it
isn’t necessarily related only to a book, but that it represents a contextual
commentary made in a visual way. The exhibition slogan is: “Look around with
the eyes to /not to/ see”.
Therefore, the status of
illustration is raised to a higher level both in terms of evaluating illustration
as a form of artistic expression in terms of high art, but also within the
framework of the graphic industry where it also gained significance, as her
place is no longer linked only to a book, to publications, posters and some
established forms, but it is recognized that it is present at every step in a
time of intensive visual communications in which we are surrounded and exposed
to an extremely great number of visual messages of the propaganda industry.
Such a position of illustration today has also led to an increased interest for
the theory of illustration, which we have already mentioned. These are all
facts that support the extraordinary significance of all of the previous and
future BIB Miscellanies for the study of illustration at a time when the theory
of illustration has gained a kind of a momentum.
The position of the illustrator is
one of the key ones in the visual presentation of a text or a message,
regardless of the type of text and given circumstances, needs or obligations
for adapting to the author, the editor, the concept, publisher, market... The
illustrator is always facing a problem, as it was said by Barbara Brathová in
the 2009 Michellany: „How to visualize the text to an attractive visual art
form, how to potentiate it, to support it, or to conform to it submissively, or
vice versa to show the dominance. In the illustrator’s work his personal
relationship to the theme and its content is profiled subconsciously. In his
attitude to the visual character he clearly presents how he feels the text, how
he understands it and how he shall make it understandable for the others. And
maybe not.“ (Brathová 2009: 107)
Thus, there is one more very important question related to illustrating books: whether the illustrator is, in a certain way, imposing his own visual experience of the text to the reader, which would for him, with great certainty, be different?
Let’s imagine Little Prince
different than how he was portrayed by Exupéry? No other illustration of this
character isn’t as much present as this one is, no other illustrator, probably
even a far better one, didn’t succeed in suppressing it. Or, for example, when
we read a novel and then watch a movie based on that novel, we get surprised
because we have imagined the characters completely differently while we were
reading the book and the director has presented them differently; or vice
versa, if we see the movie before we read the book, while reading, we will
certainly visualize the characters as they were represented by actors in the
movie. The visual representation of a particular narrative strongly influences
the viewer. This does not diminish the importance of the narrative itself, the
illustrator, even the director, as someone who visualizes the scenario,
inevitably lean on the text, but the creator of a visual representation of the
given text imposes his own visual experience to others as well.
But, this is the power of
illustration!
The secret of its power in the last
half a century is revealed by theorists and historians of illustration from
many countries gathered around the International BIB Symposium giving an
indispensable contribution to the theory of illustration of the entire world.
References
Bland, David, A history of book illustration: the illuminated manuscript and the printed book, Faber and Faber, London 1969.
Brathová, Barbara, “Alice’s Relationships”, Miscellany International Symposium BIB 2009, Bibiana, Bratislava 2009.
Dekhterev, Boris, “Apprehension of the Surrounding World and the Task of Illustrations in Books for Children”, Zbornik SNG BIB ‘71, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 1971.
Gankina, Ella, “On the Problem of Historical-theoretical Research into the Illustration Art of the Books for Children”, Zbornik SNG BIB ‘71, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 1971.
Grove, Jaleen, “Evaluating Illustration Aesthetically: Points for Consideration for Those New to the Field.” The Situation Gallery Magazine, Vol. 1, Issue 1, (pg. 7-13), The Situation Gallery, Montreal 2013.
Heller, Steven, Arisman, Marshall, Teaching illustration, Allworth Press, New York 2006.
Ivkov, Slobodan, 60 years of comics in Serbia, http://www.rastko.rs/strip/60godina/60gstripa_12.html
Mastnak, Tanja ”Ut pictura poesis: Visual Interpretations of Poetry in Contemporary Illustration”, Miscellany: International Symposium BIB 2009, Bibiana, Bratislava 2009.
Urblikova, Anna, “Introduction”, Zbornik SNG BIB ‘71, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 1971.
Vlahović Filipov, Senka, A video-illustration of the book “An Evening Nude in the Maiden Room of Lenka Dunđerski” by Radovan Vlahović in the function of its image-building (Master's paper, 2015)
www.bibiana.sk (BIBIANA, International House of Art for Children, Bratislava, Slovakia)
[1] Ivkov believes that the comic was derived from illustration
and that an equal sign can be put between the comic and illustration, with the
difference being that the comic is always an illustration, but the illustration
is not always a comic. He points out: „A comic is, although often disputed,
more an illustration than an illustration understood in a classic way. A comic
is the most beautiful and the most obvious synthesis of the visual and the
narrative.“ (Ivkov, web source)
