Robert Ingpen. The Idle Bear (1986) is picture book to stretch a child’s intellect,
imagination and toleration of ambiguity. Two tattered teddy bears, one a realist and the
other a philosopher, face each other and engage in Pinteresque dialogue. The twelve
page openings take the reader/viewer through a 40-year life span in the presented world
of the bears as naturally as the apparent drifts and shifts of their conversation. Ideas
explored by the text from the stance of old age, are all reflections of how we make sense
of our lives through memory, affections, and through language. Deft, sure drawing
braces the rich pastel medium of the illustrations. The philosophical musings of Ted, the
Idle Bear’s companion, continue in The Age of Acorns (1988).
Ezra Jack Keats is closely associated with the collage technique. Given that all
painting is a delicate balance between illusion and reality, solid objects occupying deep
space, which in reality are only shapes on a flat surface, collage demands special means
of expression for the artist. The materials of the collage elements have their own
character, but at the same time the beholder is asked to see them as part of the
composition. Keats’s great skill in seizing the unique possibilities of patterned paper is
apparent in The Snowy Day (1962), and Whistle for Willie (1964).
Charles Keeping created truthful picture books which made no concessions to received
opinion about what is suitable for children. Joseph’s Yard (1969) and Through the
Window (1970) which explored themes of jealousy and loss respectively, are painterly,
with intense colour, gestural obsessive patterning and vigorous handling of outline.
Keeping’s style later became more linear, though still with allusive colour, as in the tale
of a subway busker, Sammy Streetsinger (1984). For his interpretation of Alfred Noyes’s
poem The Highwayman (1981) Keeping limits his pictorial means to sepia monochrome
and his opulent confident line which leaves every tracing to contribute to the vitality of
the drawing as a whole. The sexual undertones surface in this tale of tenderness,
betrayal, sacrifice and butchery.
Satoshi Kitamura transforms the inherently constrained form of alphabet and counting
books. What’s Inside? The Alphabet Book (1985), which involves the learner in a
guessing game, has complex relationships between layout and compositions. These
exert a particularly strong influence on the dynamics of the picture book, which exhibits
a strong kinship to jazz music. When Sheep Cannot Sleep: The Counting Book (1986)
combines narrative, folk lore, and numbering; Acorn to Zoo: An Alphabet Picture Book
(1992) is in effect also a dictionary, a visual dictionary, and a source for story telling, as
nearly 400 figures and objects come together in twenty-six highly imaginative
situations. An intuitive fine pen line, sculptural shapes and an outstanding sense of
colour and tone characterise Kitamura’s pictorial style.
David McKee refuses to take for granted how stories ‘should’ be told, pictures viewed,
and books held. Not Now, Bernard (1980) is a satire on parenting, and a brief study in
child psychology. I Hate My Teddy Bear (1982) with a sparse dialogue between two
children and then their teddies, is illustrated in a surreal manner. The children play
against a background showing disconnected fragments of the lives of those around them,
whilst in places, changing viewpoints oblige the beholder to turn the book through
different angles. Mental agility and delight in ambiguity are viewing requirements.
Nicolas Mordinoff illustrated The Two Reds (1950), William Lipkind’s tale about a boy
and a cat, in a style showing the influence of modern art, and which was highly
THE MODERN PICTURE BOOK 235