Picturebooks and wordless picturebooks: a brief history and background

Foundations were being laid for modern picturebooks many years ago: among the tombs of ancient Egypt and structures in Pompeii, stories were told using pictures in particular order.  One of the oldest examples, Trajan’s Column in Rome (fig.1) tells of Trajan’s successful battles during the second century AD (Salisbury & Styles, 2012: 10); and The Bayeux Tapestry (fig. 2) illustrates the Norman conquest; importantly reading in chronological order; left to right (McCloud, 1993: 12).   The modern printing press invented in the fifteenth century by Johannes Gutenberg, saw the rise of book printing (Palermo, 2014).  From the fifteenth century onwards, picturebooks began to appear, as ‘chapbooks’ (roughly assembled pages of text and randomly selected images) were sold by pedlars in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries (Salisbury and Styles, 2012: 12-13).  Commonly accepted as being the first children’s picturebook, Orbis Pictus (Comenius, circa 1657) illustrated words with pictures (Nodelman, 1988: 2).  In the late eighteenth century William Blake created children’s books combining text and image: Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (Salisbury, 2005: 9), when lithography was introduced, meaning colour no longer had to be added by hand.  But the nineteenth century saw beginnings of a golden age for colour printing; when children’s books began to flourish and book illustration became a recognised, valued art form (Salisbury, 2005: 10).  Funny Stories and Droll Pictures (Hoffmann, 1844) directly influenced modern picturebooks, with its somewhat violent themes depicting consequences of bad behaviour (Salisbury & Styles, 2012: 14); setting the tone for cross-over picturebooks to be discussed later.  Less fear arousing than moral focussed publications for children in the sixteenth century, nineteenth century children’s books took a more light hearted approach, as seen in Under the Window (Kate Greenaway, 1878) and Randolph Caldecott’s Picture books (1878-1884, British Library: n.d.).

Caldecott pioneered the interplay between pictures and words, which no longer duplicated but complimented each other (Salisbury & Styles, 2012: 16).  Unpatronising in approach by not focussing on moral lessons he consciously created them with adult and child appeal (Desmarais, 2006: xv); commonly becoming accepted as the founding father of picturebooks (Salisbury & Styles, 2012: 16).

The picturebook can be defined as being where words and pictures are of equal importance, but this can be expanded to include books with pictures not necessarily aimed at children and not conforming to modern conventions (Salisbury, 2015: 9).  

Figure 1 (top): Trajan's Column, detail, AD 113 (Source: crystalinks.com., n.d.)

Figure 2 (above): Bayeux Tapestry, 1080, fragment (Source: Kren, E., Marx, D., n.d., Web Gallery of Art, n.d.)

References:

British Library (n.d.) Help for Researchers: Historical Survey of Children’s Literature in the British Library [online] Available at: http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpsubject/literature/chillit/childhist/childhistorical.html [Accessed: 27 July, 2016]

Desmarais, R. (2006) Introduction.  Randolph Caldecott: His Books and illustrations for Young Readers.  Edmonton: University of Alberta Libraries.

McCloud, S. (1993) Understanding Comics: the invisible art.  New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc.

Nodelman, P. (1988) Words About Pictures: The Narrative Art of Children’s Picture Books [online]. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.  Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YHPmmt9VvF8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed: 3 August, 2016]

Palermo, E. (2014) Reference: Who Invented the Printing Press? [online].  In livescience.com.  Available at: http://www.livescience.com/43639-who-invented-the-printing-press.html [Accessed: 27 July, 2016]

Salisbury, M. (2005) Illustrating Children’s Books: Creating Pictures for Publication. London: Quarto Publishing Plc.

Salisbury, M. (2015) 100 Great Children’s Picturebooks.  London: Lawrence King Publishing Ltd.

Salisbury, M., & Styles, M. (2012) Children’s Picturebooks: The Visual Art of Storytelling. London: Lawrence King Publishing Ltd.

Images:

Crystalinks.com (n.d.) Trajan’s Column, fragment [image online]. Available at: http://www.crystalinks.com/trajanscolumn.html  [Accessed: 26 July, 2016]

Kren, E., Marx, D. (n.d.) The Bayeux Tapestry (c. 1080) Bayeux Tapestry fragment [image online].  In Wall Gallery of Art.  Available at: http://www.wga.hu/html_m/zzdeco/2tapestr/2bayeux/index.html  [Accessed: 26 July, 2016]

Essay submission

Well l have finally submitted my final degree essay and very pleased with the Turnitin report which came back at only 1% similarity, so l feel confident about that.  I am so relieved to complete this module but l have really enjoyed it and everything l have learned about a genre: wordless picturebooks, which l hope to become more immersed in after graduation.  I am currently working on my own wordless cross-over book on my Final Major Project module so the information l have learned from this theoretical module has certainly been, and will continue to be extremely useful; affecting positively the outcomes l produce.

The aspects of this module l enjoyed most were discovering, on an academic level, more about a subject which really interests me.  I enjoy the challenge of academic writing and the research which goes into it to form strong arguments.  I was surprised to find so much material on the study of images; and wordless picturebooks in particular on educational and emotional development.  It was interesting to learn just how wordless picturebooks can be used in the classroom environment and benefit those with special needs as well as those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.  Cross-over books interests me greatly and, as l intend to create my own work within this genre, this study has been a great benefit to me and the outcomes l will produce.

The easiest part of the module was setting up the blog, as l have created one before, but l also found it interesting to use this as a means of recording information and clarifying ideas, which l hadn’t done previously.  I feel this approach as well as adding posts telling the viewer something about me personally, has a wider appeal than just posting pictures of my latest work, which l have done before.  l will continue with this and share my posts on Google + and link the blog to my website.  Although this aspect of the module was insightful and useful l found the academic research:  the most difficult and time consuming aspect, the most interesting and enjoyable.  Although it could be frustrating and complex, l enjoyed learning about my area of main interest which will help me in the future.  I also found it challenging not to write too much: l had to reduce my essay down quite substantially from the initial draft, as l had included too much information.  I suppose this is just because l am very interested in the theme and didn’t want to miss anything out; though the word count limitation did help me to hone in my writing and critical skills; l had to be ruthless and identify areas where l could link up sentences or paragraphs to reduce the number of words, make statements in shorter sentences or remove parts which may have been saying the same thing l have said elsewhere but in a slightly different way.  I printed off my essay a couple of times as l found l was able to identify these issues more easily than just looking at my computer screen.  I also find it more productive and easier to navigate when using books as opposed to online material; maybe this is a result of being in Generation X.

l feel one of my strengths is being able to identify relevant information quite quickly by scanning, which saves time, but my weakness is arguably writing too much which l always manage to do.  Reducing, of course then takes time but l feel it is also important to include all the information l need so that, when l do reduce it there is a higher level of relevant and highly referenced material.  Previously l have made the mistake of including assumptions and opinion and l now realise that this is not acceptable without being backed up by evidence so l keep this in mind throughout the writing process. 

I feel l used my time well and sourced all the information needed for the essay, which is something l could expand upon at a later date should l wish to do so.  For example l would be interested in finding more out about cross-over books and the contexts they can be used in; seeing them being used in educational or clinical settings.  I feel there is a lot of potential for this genre of books to be used productively for adults with issues such as abuse, childhood neglect and depression for example.  The images can be interpreted by each individual in different ways depending upon their experiences and each person can take something different from it.  This is an area l would really like to be involved in, as l am working on my own wordless picturebook based on one of these themes at the moment.  I am interested in pursuing the area of emotional problems in adults as a result of childhood experience as this is something which personally resonates with me so feel l would be able to reach out to those who have suffered similarly.

My plan now is to continue exploring my own visual language and developing my skills in storytelling using emotional elements to reach out to audiences while continuing to research the genres of interest.  The wordless picturebook offers many opportunities for illustrators; even benefiting publishers who don’t need to get them translated into different languages.  Looking at historic examples of visual storytelling which go back thousands of years as well as the more contemporary examples of wordless pciturebooks such as The Snowman has been very helpful.  Lacking written explanation, it is even more important for images to speak to the reader; they also give readers a voice as the voice of the author is lacking (ideal for abuse sufferers).  My current work on FMP has been inspired greatly by the examples l have studied and in particular the emotion conveyed in the wordless book The Arrival, the tackling of difficult issues in Why?; the success of subtlety in image as seen in Rainstorm, the insight and humanity of the child in Footpath Flowers; and the information about sequential narratives in Mac Cloud’s Understanding Comics.  They have been extremely useful in affecting how l produce my own visual sequences and recognising the importance of each element; something l knew very little about a few months ago.  With all l have learned l feel equipped in tackling sensitive subjects and confident that l can achieve this.  As well as producing my own work which is what l am passionate about l am also working on commissions and will seek illustration work upon graduation as well as apply to agencies once l have tailored my portfolio.  This is an area l need to build on after completing this course, as much of the work l produced in previous years is not at the standard l am happy with.  However l feel l am now moving in the right direction and am confident about my ability to produce high standard professional outcomes based on all l have learned on this course.

Bibliography

Briggs, R., 2013, The Snowman. London: Puffin Books.

Lawson, J, Smith, S., 2016, Footpath Flowers, London:  Walker Books.

Lehman, B., 2007, Rainstorm, New York:  Houghton Mifflin Company Boston.

McCloud, S., 1993, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art.  New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc.

Popov, N., 1996.  Why?  New York:  North South Books Inc.

Tan, S., 2014, The Arrival, Sydney:  Lothian Books.