With the aid of the illustrations of the finalists from some 68 countries, Anna Castagnoli will take her audience around the world, looking at styles and trends, competitions and the publishing scene in different parts of the globe.
A jury member for the 2014 Illustrators Exhibition, author and illustrator Anna Castagnoli has for years studied and disseminated the art of children’s illustration.
The following is a brief overview of illustration in the world. I apologize in advance for things I have left out or exceptions I fail to mention.
Illustrated books (album/picturebook/bilderbuch) for children were first published around the mid-1800s. The countries pioneering the genre - the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, and Sweden - have continued to produce a steady flow of picturebooks for over a century and a half.
Other countries began to produce picturebooks after the Second World War when the large number of orphans and the drive to educate new generations in the value of peace boosted the children's publishing market in Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Holland.
The 1970s saw a new revolutionary pedagogical spirit coupled with huge stylistic innovations in countries like the former Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Latin America.
Finally, about 15 years ago, a picturebook boom was seen virtually worldwide. I think the Bologna Fair and the advent of social networks played a role in spreading interest. In Italy saw an increase in the number of picturebook publishers and academic critiques of the genre. Spain and Latin America, Portugal, China and Russia followed, as new publishing houses were born and specialized fairs, festivals and illustration competitions came onto the scene.
There are four major annual events: the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy, the Guadalajara Fair in Mexico, the Montreuil Fair in France, and the BIB in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Two awards or acknowledgements have gained international visibility: the Hans Christian Andersen Award, organized by Ibby (Ibby is a non-profit association for the promotion of children's literature, founded in Germany after the Second World War and still active all over the world) and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, considered the Nobel Prize of children's literature.
Many of the countries mentioned in this talk have been guests of the Bologna Fair with events and exhibitions that have allowed the public to get to know them better.
Let's start our journey from Asia:
THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
In recent years, the People's Republic of China has invested heavily in the children's book market, purchasing Western titles and illustrations, and starting the Shanghai Fair.
The market has to be accessed through agents, although some publishers may access directly
There are two China book fairs - one in Beijing and one in Shanghai - the second organized in partnership with the Bologna Fair. Shanghai is also a host venue on the tour made by the Illustrators Exhibition, which also goes to two other cities in China each year.
Two contests that can be entered from around the world are the Golden Pinwheel, of the Shanghai Fair, and the CICLA. Many European illustrators have won awards at both in recent years.
The Sumi-e technique is a traditional Chinese drawing technique that was later exported to other nations. It is still widely used by oriental illustrators.
This beautiful illustration by Gao Yuan is a fine example of the Sumi-e technique. Although using different techniques, the style of Chen Dream and Aining Wen is just as free-flowing, an ensemble of individual brush strokes.
Cheung Shana is from Hong Kong. This interior full of delicate poetry reminds me of the fluid style of the Canadian Frédéric Back. It's the dream home we'd all like to have in these pandemic times: one of poetry, fantasy and light-heartedness.
http://www.ccbookfair.com/en http://www.ccbfgoldenpinwheel.com.cn/en http://ccbookfair.com/en/index/programme/chen-bo-chui
Social network platforms: WeChat (accessible also in the West).
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea has a long children's picturebook tradition. It enjoyed a "golden age" between 1950 and 1960, as shown by a beautiful catalogue documenting those years.
The current period is no less golden! One of the most frequent things you overhear illustrators at the Bologna Fair ask is: Did you go see the Koreans? Every year, the South Korea booth is an important source of inspiration for us illustrators.
South Korea gave us the beloved: Suzy Lee. We discovered Baek Heena through the Andersen Prize she won last year.
Look at the delicate balance between graphics and storytelling in the way the hair is parted in this illustration by Choi Seunghee. Korean illustrators always manage to use extremely elegant graphics and composition to tell their story.
South Korea is also home to one of the most coveted international competitions, the Nami Book Concours, which is very open to Western illustration. This year the prize was won by Victoria Semykina, a Russian illustrator who has been living in Italy for many years.
How cool is that! A Russian illustrator, living in Italy, winning an award in South Korea. This happens regularly in Bologna. This is the world of illustration!
More info
Catalogue: Bound Treasures, Graphic Art in Korean Children's books of the Mid-20th Century, published by The National Library for Children and Young Adults Art Center for Children's Books.
THE PHILIPPINES
This example by Fran Alvarez has a recognizable Eastern style, evident in the miniaturist-like detail of line and the narrative that captures scenes of everyday life.
With the exception of China and Iran, where mythology and fantasy are the tradition, Asian illustrators, especially Japanese, Korean and Filipino artists, have a love of nature, and everyday objects. Here, the wonder of the world is shown to children with great gentleness.
JAPAN
The style of Western children's illustration owes much to Japan. It was the fashion for everything Japanese that brought the flat-colour style to Europe. If we look at the early European picturebook illustrators like L.M. Boutet de Monvel, Walter Crane, and Kate Greenaway, we will find much of the traditional Japanese illustration.
The magazine Kodomo No Kuni, born after the Second Word War, is a wonderful example of a children's magazine. It is still published today in gift box collections.
Japan has many museums dedicated to illustration. A major focal point is the Illustrators Exhibition from Bologna, which each year is shown at the Itabashi Museum, as well as in 4/5 other museums in Japan. Indeed, the exhibition has become a sort of mecca for illustrators. The related Summer Atelier at the Itabashi is held by many invited illustrators, including Western artists.
However, the language and Japan’s very distinctive picturebook tradition make it a difficult market for someone from outside to enter.
The subjects dealt with by Japanese picturebooks are always thoughtful, even contemplative: the poetry of the everyday, how things work, and our relationship to nature.
There are also very surreal genres unfamiliar to us in Europe. We are children of the Enlightenment, always too logical.
Further info
Itabashi Art Museum https://www.city.itabashi.tokyo.jp/artmuseum/4000002/4000014.html
International Library of Children’s Literature (ILCL) https://www.ndl.go.jp/en/aboutus/outline/pdf/pamph_ilcl_en.pdf http://www.lefiguredeilibri.com/2013/01/16/la-ilcl-e-gli-artisti-di-kodomo-no-kuni-giappone/ Some Japanese illustrators are very popular in Europe: Mitsumasa Anno, Katsumi Komagata, Komako Sakai.
IRAN
You will know that figurative images were forbidden in Persian culture, with the result that art centred on calligraphy, decoration, and arabesque. This is still visible in contemporary illustration.
Iran had a golden age of illustration with Kanoon, before the Revolution.
the Illustrators Exhibition and at the International Exhibition in Sarmede, Veneto.
Further info
Kanoon, Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_the_Intellectual_Development_of_Children_and_Young_Adults
Hans Belting, I canoni dello sguardo, Bollati Boringhieri
TAIWAN
Although small, Taiwan is big on children's books. I remember the queues of people at the Book Fair twenty years ago waiting to hand over their CD to Grimm Press!
It is home to one of Italy's best-loved illustrators, Jimmy Liao.
There are two reasons for some countries not featuring in the Exhibition: simply, the Jury of that year did not select illustrators from them or they are countries where children’s books are not yet widespread. New Zealand and Australia have excellent schools and publishers. Australia is home to one of the world’s most well-known illustrators: Shaun Tan.
Africa has many publishers and enterprises. Winners of the BOP – the Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year started in 2013, have come from Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Ruanda and South Africa.
LATIN AMERICA
You'll often hear people talk about "LIJ" as if it were a beautiful girl. It stands for "Literatura Infantil y Juvenil."
The entire Spanish-language market in Latin America is dominated by government purchases for libraries. The system enables the poorest to access culture and sustains publishers in geographically vast countries where bookstores are not as widespread as in Europe and North America.
In recent years, the difficult economic and political situation in many Latin American countries has somewhat slowed the development of children's illustration.
More info
FIL https://www.fil.com.mx/ingles/i_info/i_info_fil.asp Concorso Fondo Cultura Economica: https://www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com/Noticia/1445
BRAZIL
Brazil has a keen interest in children's illustration.
An example is Ângela Lago, a great experimenter in children's books since the 1990s. The critical work that Rivista Emília has been doing for years is exceptional and is a bridge between Brazil and Europe.
Roger Mello won the Andersen Prize in 2014, and if you want to get a feel for the Brazilian style, just look at his illustrations. Vivid colours, cheerfulness, music in every line. The same can be said of these finalists.
More info https://revistaemilia.com.br/
PERU
Huayamares Velasquez Oscar Omar
This demonstrates a great blend of traditional gestures and costumes rendered in a fresh style, with animals as the main characters.
THE UNITED STATES
The United States has the gift of creating perfect authors and illustrators: William Steig, Maurice Sendak, Crockett Johnson, and Remy Charlip, to name a few. They really know how to make the picturebook work. In their hands, it becomes a truly powerful narrative mechanism, made of pictures and words.
In the last few years, they have been more open to European illustration, which scares them a bit for several reasons. The Caldecott Prize, one of the most coveted picturebook prizes, is reserved for resident authors only; then there is a long list of things that cannot be said or illustrated: dangerous objects, allusions to sexuality, gender or racial stereotypes, almost unknown to us Europeans - at least until a few years ago, because lately we too have become more cautious and politically correct.
To access this market you need an agent. One way to get noticed is through the award organized every year by the Illustrators Association of NY.
The English-speaking market is immense. While copyright royalty payments in Europe are only a 1,000 euros, you have to add at least one zero to American royalty payments.
CANADA
In recent years, Canada has given us some of the best contemporary illustrators: Sydney Smith, Jon Klassen, and Carson Ellis (although the latter grew up in NY). The average level of the illustrators, as you can see in these images, is very high. They are formally perfect, the technique that of a mature illustrator.
For the list of contests across Europe, which would be long to name, I refer you to this post: http://www.lefiguredeilibri.com/2019/11/08/concorsi-internazionali-di-illustrazione/
FRANCE
The whole universe of French illustration revolves around the Montreuil Salon.
Not to be missed are the critiques by people like Mathilde Lévêque (Strenae magazine), Loïc Boyer (Cligne Cligne), Sophie van der Linden (Hors Cadre[s]) and Cécile Boulaire (Album '50' blog). France also has a museum dedicated to illustration, in Moulins, and there’s the Tomi Ungerer Museum – Centre Intérnational de l’Illustration.
It's not a difficult market, and it's accessible without an agent, but the French language is a big plus when doing business and the quality demanded is very high.
A certain French style is clearly identifiable in these artworks: refined, delicate, poetic, with plenty of room for white.
THE UNITED KINGDOM
What can we say about the English? They invented the picturebook; they have the Victoria and Albert Museum which is the Louvre of applied arts and illustration. They have Quentin Blake, John Burningham and Oxembury; they have adopted the German Axel Scheffer and Sara Fanelli. And if that weren’t enough, they have recently also produced a stylistic fashion we can identify with the style of Laura Carlin, whose roots lie in illustrators such as Ravilious and Ben Shahn. Plus they also have one of illustration's best critics, Martin Salisbury.
We look up to them in admiration and a touch of envy. They are very selective: it's not impossible but it's not easy to enter their market. Of course, only through an agency.
GERMANY
With the exception of a few 19th-century titles, most of my children's book collection comes from 1920s Germany. Konrad von Freyhold, Tom Seidmann Freud.... What style!
The German publishing market exports a fair amount of its production. An example is the international success of Wolf Erlbruch. Inbound, they are more selective and somewhat unfathomable. The Frankfurt Fair is difficult for a young illustrator to access.
The style frequently seen is often caricatural and ironic.
ITALY
Italy - thanks to the Bologna Fair and a renaissance over the last 20 years - has a lively interest in children's picturebooks. While in the past there were few publishers of this genre, in the last few decades, many specialist companies have sprung up. Many critical and popular books on the illustrator’s craft have been published, and new magazines have sprung up alongside the already historic ones (Liber, Hamelin, Andersen, Illustratore Italiano).
There are competitions, excellent schools and summer courses (Sarmede, Macerata, MiMaster, Ied in Turin), many bookstores and libraries with specialized sectors, critical blogs, books and competitions.
It is an easy market to access, even for foreigners. Projects can be sent to publishers directly.
However, as flourishing as it is, the Italian language market is obviously limited by the number of readers, so Italian illustrators try to branch out, turning to foreign publishers or collaborating with the press.
The Bologna Fair’s Illustrators Exhibition has always been an exception door-opener onto the international illustration scene for many illustrators both from Italy and the rest of the world.
PORTUGAL
Portugal loves graphic style. One example is the Planeta Tangerina publishing house, known worldwide for high quality and graphic strength.
There are few competitions and awards. The most well-known is Ilustrarte, but as of this year, the prize will be given to a list of already published illustrators, pre-selected by a jury. The competition will no longer be open to individual illustrators. However, the catalogues will remain and are a treasure trove of excellent publisher choices, in addition to the exhibition to be held every two years - pandemic permitting.
Another contest open to everyone is Serpa, curated by Planeta Tangerina.
RUSSIA
After the golden age of the 1920s (Chagall, Lebedev, Lissitzky) to whom we owe a great deal (without them, we would not have had, among others, Dick Bruna, Munari and Lionni's Little Blue and Little Yellow), and following a long period of dormancy for historical reasons, Russia has for some years now been getting back on track with children's illustration.
The Moscow Book Fair has large children's book section and programme dedicated to illustration, developed over the last couple of years in partnership with the Bologna Fair and Mimaster. A re-edition of the great illustrators of the 1920s is underway.
SPAIN
I have been living in Barcelona for 15 years now and wonder if Spain exists. Spain is a collection of autonomous communities, each with their own language, culture, illustrators' associations and lots of economic aid for translations and publishing. But maybe this is what Spain is all about.
Recent years have seen the creation of the Semana del Álbum, a collective of independent publishers organizing hundreds of events each year to promote children's books to the public, libraries and bookstores.
Spanish publishing is a very friendly world, where everyone is on a first-name terms.
It is an easy market to enter and has many competitions with important cash prizes.
In short, to conclude this tour around the world, I encourage you to browse through other markets, study languages and get passionate about the history of illustration.
And get ready to start traveling again!
Thanks for your attention.
Anna Castagnoli
Summary of the venues of the Illustrators Exhibition around the world
After the close of the Book Fair in Bologna, every edition of the Illustrators Exhibition goes on a two-year tour to Japan (4/5 venues), South Korea (1 venue) and China (3 venues). This long tour takes in top museums and new countries are constantly being added. The most recent editions have included Argentina, Uruguay and Taiwan.
The 2018 Illustrators Exhibition is currently now in Taiwan while the 2019 Exhibition is still in China where it will be shown – as soon as the situation makes this possible – at a further venue after its stop-over in Peking (Art Yi da Museum, 29 August – 18 October 2020) and Shanghai (Duo Yun Xian Art Center, 13 November 2020 – 11 January 2021).
The 2020 Illustrators Exhibition completed its tour in Japan:
Itabashi Art Museum (Tokyo) - 22 August - 27 September 2020 Yokkaichi Municipal Museum (Mie) - 3 October - 1 November 2020 Ishikawa Nanao Art Museum (Ishikawa) - 6 November - 13 December 2020 Art Museum and Library, Ota (Gunma) - 19 December - 24 January 2021
During these periods, Beyond Sight / Oltre la vista / 視る」を超えて, an exhibition of tactile boards making the 2020 Illustrators Exhibition accessible to the non-sighted, was also shown.
Beyond Sight / Oltre la vista / 視る」を超えて is a project organized by the Itabashi Art Museum of Tokyo and JBBY in partnership with Azienda Speciale Palaexpo and Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
After this, illustrations by Korean artists selected for the 2020 Exhibition will be exhibited in Korea where the pandemic obliged us to cancel the exhibition of all the original artworks. The 2020 Exhibition will then move to China on the last leg of the tour that will end in 2022.
Finally, the Japanese venues scheduled for the 2021 Illustrators Exhibition will be:
August 2021 to end January 2022 - Itabashi, Nishinomiya, Hamamatsu, Nanao and Ota.
After Japan, the Exhibition will go to South Korea (from February to April 2022) and then China (from May 2022 to May 2023).
OPEN UP
GALLERIES
GLOBAL RIGHTS EXCHANGE
FAIRTALES