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PICTURING STORIES: THE INTEGRITY AND MARGINALIZATION OF VISUAL STORYTELLING IN CHILDREN'S PICTUREBOOKS STELLA EAST A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENTS OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO AUGUST 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45935-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45935-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada iv Abstract Picturing Stories: The Integrity and Marginalization of Visual Storytelling in Children's Picturebooks by Stella East This thesis examines how illustrations in children's picturebooks can be considered a picturing of the story, rather than a picturing of the words. My interest in the integrity of the picturebook has developed within my work as a picturebook illustrator where I consider my role as that of a visual storyteller rather than as a mere decorator of an author's textual narrative. My interdisciplinary approach to this thesis investigates picturebook illustration as visual language, and as an art form, within a visual storytelling tradition. These properties are demonstrated by discussing thirteen narrative works including picturebooks. The integrity of these works is then contrasted with biases practiced in the publishing and cultural community, which lead away from the appreciation and development of the picturebook's visual story. The importance of the picturebook image is manifested in its role as a child reader's introduction to visual literacy, visual art, and the visual narrative. Dedicated to Severin and Isadora Sasther, who have always known about visual storytelling VI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my supervisory committee, York University professors, Sharon Murphy, Don Dippo, Peter Cumming, and Karen Stanworth for their generous patience and guidance. An extra thank you to Peter Cumming for his additional role as professor in our challenging "Directed Reading Course," "Word and Image" and for his seemingly endless patience as spelling and grammar checker. I would also like to thank York University professors David Lidov, Judith Schwarz, and Monique Tschofen for inspiring courses, which in part have found their way into this thesis, and the members of the Interdisciplinary Programme at York University, especially Patrick Taylor, Ouma Jaipaul-Gill, and Jamie Scott. In addition to this I would like to thank my daughter Isadora Sasther and my son Severin Saether, my parents Joyce and Phillip East, my dear friend Guro Ekeland, Jan-Kare 0ien, Nena Hardie, Ingela 0ien and Paul Arlidge, Paul Freudenthaler, Karen Large, Joanne Shwartz, Ase Moller Hansen, Solgerd Bakke, and Lesley and Steve Clare, for their encouragement and support. A special thank you to David Blackwood and Brian Deines for their participation in this thesis. vii Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1. 1.1. Outline of Thesis 2. 1.2. The Picturebook 4. Chapter 2: Visual Language 14. 2.1. General Opinion about Visual Language 15. 2.2. A Definition of Language 16. 2.3. A Definition of "Visual Language" 20. 2.4. The Definition of Signs 22. 2.5. The Components of Visual Language 27. 2.6. Colour and Form: Foundation of Visual Language 28. 2.7. The Pictorial Syntax 32. 2.8. Values Within Language 35. 2.9. Parts of Speech: Colour and Form as Modifiers 39. 2.10. Representational Forms: "A System of Distinct Signs Corresponding to Distinct Ideas" 40. 2.11. The Fable and Multiple Metaphorical Meanings 43. 2.12. Emotional Signification 48. 2.13. The Non-mimetic Properties of Pictures 51. 2.14. The Mimetic Properties of Words 55. 2.15. Aesthetic Signs 56. 2.16. The Influence of "Time" in Language 58. 2.17. Visual Language: an Articulation of Visual Thinking 61. 2.18. Word and Image in Picturebooks 63. Chapter 3: Visual Storytelling 65. 3.1. Definition of Narrative 65. 3.2. Focalization 70. 3.3. Early Image-Making 73. 3.4. "Egyptian Life Class": An Example of Past and Present Coding 78. 3.5. The History of Art and the Picturebook 81. 3.6. The Representation of Time in Visual Storytelling 85. 3.7. Visual Storytelling: "The Return of the Prodigal Son" 90. 3.8. The Story as an "Abstract Totality" 95. 3.9. Visual Storytelling: Aesop's Fables 97. 3.10. "The Bayeux Tapestry" and the Aesop's Fable 98. 3.11. Embedded Knowledge in Visual Stories 101. viii Chapter 4: The Integrity of the Visual Narrative 104. 4.1. Fergus Hall: Groundsel 106. 4.2. Frida Kahlo: "The Little Deer" 115. 4.3. Jindra Capek: Tales of a Long Afternoon 121. 4.4. David Blackwood: "Fire Down on the Labrador" 128. Chapter 5: The Visual Story in Children's Picturebooks: Mere Decoration for a Written Text? 136. 5.1. Literary Criticism 137. 5.2. Art and Purpose 140. 5.3. The Business of Art 143. 5.4. Abstract Structuring and Narrative Structuring 146. 5.5. The "Purity" of Narrative Art 153. 5.6. Art and Mass Production 159. 5.7. Art Appreciation and the Visual Story 162. 5.8. Visual Literacy and the Visual Story 164. 5.9. The Privileging of Words 169. 5.10. Biases in Reviews 173. Chapter 6: Biases in Marketing, Funding, and Publishing 181. 6.1. Biases in Marketing 181. 6.2. Biases in Funding for the Arts 184. 6.3. Biases in Contracts and Agreements 195. 6.4. Visual Storytelling as a Profession 201. 6.5. Reproduction as a Translation from one Media to Another 204. 6.6. Freedom of Speech in Visual Language 208. 6.7. Biases in Visual Editing 210. 6.8. An Example of Visual Editing: "The Jump" 212. 6.9. An Example of Visual Editing: "The Shovellers" 216. 6.10. An Example of Visual Editing: "The Paint Box" 218. Chapter 7: Conclusion 225. Works Cited 228. Appendices 250. IX Pictures Fig. 1. Hall, Fergus. "Jack Frost Escapes." Illus. Groundsel. Written and Illus. Fergus Hall. London: Jonathan Cape, 1982. Image from Groundsel by Fergus Hall. published by Jonathan Cape. Used by permission of The Random House Group Ltd. Fig. 2. Hall, Fergus. The storyboard. Groundsel. London: Jonathan Cape, 1982. Images from Groundsel by Fergus Hall, published by Jonathan Cape. Used by permission of The Random House Group Ltd. Fig. 3. Hall, Fergus. "Jack Frost Escapes." Illus. Groundsel. Overlaid with colour for identifying narrative structures by Stella East. For use in this thesis only. Image from Groundsel by Fergus Hall, published by Jonathan Cape. Used by permission of The Random House Group Ltd. Fig. 4. Blackwood, David "Fire Down on the Labrador." Etching 32 x20 inches. David Blackwood, 1980. Overlaid with colour for identifying narrative structures by Stella East. For use in this thesis only. Reprinted by permission of: © David Blackwood. Canadian b. 1941. Fig. 5. Capek, Jindra "The Wolf and the Dog." Illus. Tales of a Long Afternoon. Written by Max Bolliger and Illus. Jindra Capek. Zurich: Bohem press, 1988. Reprinted by permission of © Bohem press. X Fig. 6. Capek, Jindra The Storyboard, Tales of a Long Afternoon. Zurich: Bohem press, 1988. Reprinted by permission of© Bohem press. Fig. 7. Itten, Johannes "12-hue Colour Circle." Diagram. 1961. Wikipedia Commons. <http://en.wikipedia.Org/wiki/Image:Farbkreis_Itten_1961.png> Viewed 30 June 2008. Fig. 8a. "RGB Colours." Diagram. Wikipedia Commons. <http://en.wikipedia.Org/wiki/Image:AdditiveColor.svg> Viewed 30 June 2008. Fig. 8b. "CMYK Colours" Diagram. Wikipedia Commons. <http://en.wikipedia.0rg/wiki/Image:CMYK_c0l0r_swatches.svg> Viewed 30 June 2008. "CMYK Colours Separated within one Photograph" Diagram. Creative Commons: Attribution 2.5. <http://en.wikipedia.Org/wiki/Image:CMYK_components.jpg> Viewed 30 June 2008. Fig. 9a. "People, Boats, and Animals." Egyptian wall painting from Hieraconpolis, Egypt, c. 4000 BC. The author of this thesis acknowledges the copyright belonging to the copyright holder of this image, but has not yet been able to obtain the written copyright permission. Fig. 9b. "Harvest Scene." Egyptian wall painting from a tomb at Thebes, Egypt, c.1400 BC. The author of this thesis acknowledges the copyright belonging to the copyright holder of this image, but has not yet been able to obtain the written copyright permission.