Assessment

Assessment
Research folder

My essay will be researching and investigating children's book s. Following there development from 1795 to 1945 .I will looking at there illustration that surrounds it and there artists who developed the wondrous fictional characters that inspired children's imagination for over 200 years.
I will be comparing the artists work by many different factors such as dates, mediums, and references.
Children's books were at first made for the purpose of education with differences being that they have more illustration to describe situation's and events then adult books. That being said there are many adults books that could be considered for children such as “Tarzan of the apes” and “The adventures of Tom Sayer” . However there are also children's books that adults also enjoy such as J.K Rowling's harry potter series.As time has past children's books have changed from more adult fictional novels to simple illustrated pages such as alphabet books.This has helped childhood as being a time were young people became children as the were given a period in life captured within the pages of these books. It shows that it is a time of imagination, learning and simplicity unlike adulthood where things are complex ed and complicated. By changing illustration, by changing books it gave a name to this age period and help stimulate the creative mind of a younger generation this can be seen from as far as the 16th century to as recent as the 1930’s shown below.





The first image is from one of the earliest children's books found in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1679).A story of a man who runs away from home to seek answers and certainty he is challenged by a numbers of problems which he overcomes with faith.
Dr Andersen was the one who illustrated this in the first addition copies in 1806. He used detailed wood engravings and printing to achieve the sharp black lines and quality's which can be seen within this picture.
The second is Attwell Mable Lucie a popular illustrator in the most of her paintings are based on her young daughter penny and are done in detailed watercolors and pencil.this picture was from the novel The ugly duckling.
The two come from very different area’s one post modernism and and the other is modern. Dr Andersen reflects a time where violence and graphical detail had no meaning in terms of what it could do for a child its was simplify socially acceptable as it was mostly adults who were expected to read these books. Although these stories were filled with imagination and many biblical references to help provide moral values in society they never portrayed innocence and youth during this period.However after 200 years of change and the second book is the complete opposite it reflects a time of joy and colour.the illustration is more brighter and rounder, visually pleasing then the hollow faces of the people in the previous image. Anderson's picture shows a high reference to death yet the other is filled with hope and laughter and dramatic change in mood yet a change in views of what was considered a children's book in there era. Both use too completely different ways of design the first image consists of black print most likely for mass publishing by printing machines. The other is a soft painted water made by hand and then photocopied and distributed by mass copiers. During The first images time they could not colour the images as this would be too time consuming yet the second because the technology was available could freely do this. But the add to overall charm of the pictures.
Below are images that reflect a changing Britain they are both from the same period using the same type of fictional characters yet have dramatic styles and differences that reflect there place in time.





The first image is from the book The water babies by Charles Kingsley and illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith made in 1862. This book is based on the adventures of a young boy being tragically killed and turned into a waterbabie were he learns valuable life lessons to become a real boy again.The second is Alice in wonderland made in 1865 by Lewis Carroll and illustrated by Arthur Rackham.It follows the journey of a young girl who travels to a mysterious land of fantasy and nonsense.
Both stories are a large resource of life lessons and learning for children such as in the water babies the book make many references to worshiping the Christian God such as when the book states “grace Of Highest God that loves His creatures so”.its encouragement to children to be christian as most people at that time were made to practice this religion. As well as The water babies ,Alice in wonderland also teaches children as it quotes many of the lessons that were learned during this period. Such as “How doth the little busy bee” a popular rhyme in schools to help children remember things.yet there importance lies not with there ability to teach but the way contradict many of what many great scientists and theorists at the time were discovering. Such as Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Many children were so drawn in to this way of thinking of creatures that were not real existed, which was what parents or teachers did not want at this time.The two images are made from ink and watercolour yet the water babies is made with pure water colours. Smith uses a soft form of watercolour making the characters seem gentle and innocent.Yet Rackham uses dark mysterious colours to give a sense of isolation and confusion. Both are fables of enchantment yet one resembles the lighter side of stories whilst the other seems a lot more detailed and cynical.
My conclusion is that although the books over the years have dramatic changed they still retain that imaginative world that is still respected today . I set out to find out how childhood and technology's have changed during the times of modernism and in return gained valuable incite to how children's stories have dramatically altered.

Bibliography

The water babies Lewis Carrol


These are the sites Ive used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Anderson_(illustrator)
http://www.ortakales.com/illustrators/Attwell.html
http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/biographies/mainbiographies/S/SmithJ/SmithJ.htm