Figure 1.--This image was done by American illustrator Maria L. Kirk in 1919. She was one of a remarkable number of American illustrators, many of them women, that worked in the early 20th century. |
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Here we have listed illustrators by country to facilitate access when studying the children's literature of specificic countries. Here we know most about American and English illustrators. This is in part because the American and English literature on childhood and books for children is more extensive than that of any other country or language group. This is a reflection of the very large market. It may also be a reflection of the American and English interest in childhood as reflected in the number of important childhood characters. This is an issue we are still considering. We are thanks to our readers finding out more anout other, mostly European illustrators.
We begin to note American illustrators after the Civil War as printing tecniques improved . The first important one was True Williams who illustrated The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for Mark Twain, although these wree as much adult as children's books. Some of the finest early illustrations's were Reginald Birch's drawings for Little Lord Fauntleroy. After the turn of the 20th century, color lothography improved to the point that children's books could be illustrated in color. The result was the appearance of a remarkable number of brilliant illustrators and the Golden Age of Illustration in America. Some of these illustrators we know a good bit about. Others we have been able to find virtually no information about their lives and careers.
We do not know of any Austrian illustrators from the classic period. Hopefullybour Austrian readers can provide us some background here. We have noticed a modern Austrian illustrator who has done lovely illustrtions for children's books, Lisbeth Zwerger.
Surely the most imoportant Belgian illustrator is Herg�, the illustrator and autthor of the popular Tintin comic books. He had no academic training in art, but began drawing as a bioyhood diversion. And got more serious as he became involved in the Scouting movemnent. Comic book authors are a little difficult to categorize, but surely illustraytor has to be at the top of ghe list. One French illustrator is almost instantly reconizable to almost every French person, although with generatioinal change this may be changing. Most of the French grew up learning to read with cheerful illistrations drawn by Marcel Marlier. He illustarted French children at the age that they were beginning to go to school for books that would help them with their reading. His modern and realistic
illustrations accuaretly depict, if a little idealized, typical garments that French children were wearing.
We note some beautiful images from the People's Republic of China, but they are rarely signed.
Some of the best known illustrators of children's books are English illustrators. This is in part because they illustrated many vooks which became classics such as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Peter Rabbit, the Christoher Robin/Winnie the Poo books, Wind in the Willows, and other classics. Of course their beautiful drawings helped to make these books the classivs that they became.
While our knowledge of French children's literature is still limited, we have noted several important French illustarors that have left us with wondeful images of French children and rge clothes that that they have worn over time. One of the most important is Pierre Jobert who specialized in Scouting. Maurice Boutet de Monvel was the most successful illustrator in France during the late 19th century. A French reader has suggested Michel Gourlier as an important French illustrator, but HBC at this time knows nothing about him. Hansi or Jean Jacques Waltz was born in Colmar, an Alsatian city that had just been annexed by Germany as a result of the Franco Prussian War. He has left us some wonderful images of Alsatian and French children in the late 19th and early 20th centiry--many with political overtones. Francisque Poulbot is one of the most famous French illustrators, especially illustrators of children. Poulbot is particularly known for his drawings of Paris street
urchins. While not a major illustrator, Antoine de Saint Exupry, needs to be mentioned because of the importance of his one children's book, The Little Prince which he both
wrote and illustrated.
We know of very few German illustrators at this time. This is primarily because we have little information on German children's literature. We are hoping that our German readers will eventually provide some details for us here. We have noted one very impressive and prolific German illustrator--C.W. Allers. He was active at the turn of the century. Unfortunately we have little information about him at this time. His illustrations cover a wide range of topics, but we note that the drew clothing and hair styles in meticulous detail. Another famous German illustrator was the inventor of the comic strip, Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908), the creator of Max and Moritz, a story every German-speaking person knows.
We have acquired some information on Greek children's literature, but still have no information on illustrators.
We do not know of many Isreali illustrators. The only one we know about at this time is Nachum Gutman.
As in many areas of HBC, our knowledge of Italy is very limited. For some reasons, HBC has attracted very few Italian contributors. We have no information on Italian illustrators at this time.
Two of the best Dutch illustrators especially of children's books were: Cornelis Jetses and David Abraham Bueno de Mesquita (1889-1962). Dutch people used to grow up with reading books illustrated by Jetses. They always were delightful and at the same time very artistic. Jetses also created wall posters for the schools. Bueno de Mesquita was of Spanish-Jewish descent. I remember that many of my favorite books (for young boys) were illustrated by him. He also was a great artist. H. (Henriette) W. Willebeek Le Mair drew evocative drawings for children's books in the early-20th century. This interesting artist drew children with tremendous flair an imagination. Rien Poortvliet was another great Dutch illustrator, but he did not make many
drawings with children in them.
We have little information on Soviet illustrators at this time. Some of the illustrations in available children's books seem rather crude. Others are highly creative. One of the most creative Soviet illistrator was Vladimir Vasil'evich Lebedev. An interesting aspect of Soviet illustrators is the absence of individual charcter studies. Most illustrations are group studies showing how children fit into the collective, be it a school class or Young Pioneer unit. The beautiful studies of undividual children and their efforts to deal with the ordinary issues of childhood are very rare in illustrations for Soviet children's books. Even when children ar depicted individually by Sovie illustrators, often there is none of the personality and warm of the indivual that emerges, but only the feeling of a child as part of a collective body.
We have no information on Spanish illustrators at this time.
We have almost no information on Swedish illustrators at this time. The only one we know of is Elsa Beskow (1874-1955). A German reader has mentiond Beskow to us because her children's picture books were so widely sold in Germany. Beskow not only wrote the stories, but illustrated them all herself and is one of the founders of Swedish children's literature.
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