THE ROLES OF THE VISUAL IN PICTUREBOOKS: BEYOND THE CONVENTIONS OF CURRENT DISCOURSE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Dominic Catalano, BS, MA, MFA ****** The Ohio State University 2005 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Sydney Walker, Advisor ___________________________________ Professor Ken Marantz Advisor Professor Janet Hickman Art Education Graduate Program Copyright by Dominic Catalano 2005 ABSTRACT The purpose of this investigation is to examine the meaning making potential of the visual properties of the literary and artistic genre known as the picturebook. In addition, the means in which we come to understand the visual in picturebooks is challenged, particularly in regards to written text and in context within the conventions of the larger picturebook community. Through primarily a poststructural semiotic analysis of three major post-1960s picturebook works (plus an addtional work produced by this author), this study demonstrates the deeper potentials of meaning in the visual elements of illustration and design qualties beyond current discourse. Lastly, this deeper potential meaning is qualified as to its impact on the picturebook field itself, as to the making, interpretation, and criticism of picturebooks, and to the utilization in education, especially the practise of visual art education. ii Dedicated to my wife, Oksana, my calm port in life’s stormy sea iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Sydney Walker, for her encouragement and support throughout the writing of this study, and Drs. Kenneth Marantz and Janet Hickman for their expertise in the field. A special thank you to the men and women who work as illustrators, designers and authors in the field of picturebooks. Their work has been the inspiration for this investigation. iv VITA January 9,1956 Born - Syracuse, New York 1978 BS Art Education, Buffalo State College 1978-1996 Various Elementary and Secondary Art, Music and Vocational Positions in New York State 1981-1985 Art Director, Herald Journal/Post Standard Syracuse, New York 1984 MA Fine Arts, State College, Oswego, New York 1986-1988 Adjunct Professor - Art, Cazenovia College, Cazenovia, New York 1986-1996 Adjunct/Assistant Professor - Art, English, State College, Oswego, New York 1991 MFA Illustration, Syracuse University 1998-2000 Assistant Professor - Art, Graphic Design Broome Community College, Binghamton 2002-2004 Assistant Professor - Illustration, Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, Ohio v 2004-2005 Assistant Professor - Art Education, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio 2005 Assistant Professor- Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio PUBLICATIONS “Hush: A Fantasy in Verse,” Gingham Dog Press/McGraw Hill, 2003 “Mr. Basset Plays,” Boyds Mills Press, 2003 “Santa and the Three Bears,” Boyds Mills Press, 2001 "Frog Went A-Courting," Boyds Mills Press, 1998 "Wolf Plays Alone," Philomel Books, 1992 FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Art Education Minor Fields: Fine Arts/Printmaking & Drawing, Illustation, Children’s Literature vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ............................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments ................................................................................................... iv Vita .......................................................................................................................... v List of Tables............................................................................................................ vi Chapters 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 2. The Picturebook and the Picturebook Community ..................................... 9 3. An Historical and Ideological Overview....................................................... 45 4. Theoretical Frameworks of Analysis .......................................................... 77 5. Methodology: A Multiple Case Study ....................................................... 134 6. Case Study A: “Where the Wild Things Are”.............................................. 162 7. Case Study B: “The Polar Express” ............................................................ 237 8. Case Study C: “The Stinky Cheese Man” .................................................. 302 9. Case Study D: A Personal Journey, “Hush: A Fantasy in Verse”…………………………………………......... 362 vii 10. A Comparison of Case Study Material ....................................................... 413 11. Implications and Directions for Further Study ........................................... 460 Appendix A Glossary of Terms .............................................................................. 491 Appendix B Awards and Lists Criteria ................................................................... 497 Appendix C Awards and Lists Matrix..................................................................... 507 Reference List .......................................................................................................... 512 Picturebook List ....................................................................................................... 551 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 “Where the Wild Things Are” ...................................................................... 236 2 “The Polar Express” .................................................................................... 301 3 “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales” ......................... 361 4 “Hush: A Fantasy in Verse” ....................................................................... 412 5 “Comparison of Picturebook Community” ................................................ 416 6 “Camparison of Texts” ............................................................................... 425 7 “Comparison of Aesthetics” ...................................................................... 439 8“Comparison of Social and Cultural” ......................................................... 447 ix “Whatever the pictorial turn is, then, it should be clear that it is not a return to naive mimesis, copy or correspondence theories of representation, or a renewed metaphysics of pictorial “presence”: it is rather a postlinguistic, postsemiotic rediscovery of the picture as a complex interplay between visuality, apparatus, institutions, discourse, bodies, and figurality. It is the realization that spectatorship (the look, the gaze, the glance, the practices of observation, surveillance, and visual pleasure) may be as deep a problem as various forms of reading and that visual experience or “visual literacy” might not be fully explicable on the model of textuality. Most important, it is the realization that while the problem of pictorial representation has always been with us, it presses inescapably now, and with unprecedented force, on every level of culture, from the most refined philosophical speculations to the most vulgar productions of the mass media. Traditional strategies of containment no longer seem adequate, and the need for a global critique of visual culture seems inescapable” (J. W. T. Mitchell, “Picture Theory,” 1994, pg. 16). x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION On many occasions, working as a picturebook visual artist, I’ve noticed a difference in how I think about and perceive the visual qualities of picturebooks and how others involved, in whatever way, think about those same qualities. Invariably, as I relish the subtlety of an illustration, the delicacy of a particular font, or the bold design format of a picturebook work, a review of the same piece will scarcely mention those qualities at all, primarily focusing on the narrative structure or on the applicability to an educational curriculum. This investigation has sought to examine how meaning is produced by these visual qualities apart from and in relation to written representations as well as how the visual has come to be perceived by the institution and its conventions that guide picturebook production. Not only does this study hope to challenge these perceptions to reveal deeper meaning within the visual but to demonstrate the potential such an awarenesss would have on the utilization of picturebooks in the practice of visual art education. 1 A Matter of Definitions. Because this investigation is about the visual as separate from, and sometimes opposed to, the verbal, it is important to get the matter of definitions out of the way from the beginning. Throughout this investigation the term “visual text” has been used for the combined visual aspects of any work in question. However, at times, the full visual text will be further broken down into “picture text,” the visual material commonly referred to as illustration, those aspects of the visual that hold concrete content, and “design text,” which includes abstract content such as page layout and margins, type size and style, company logos and other design elements, trim size, choice of paper, printing quality, and color and design of endpapers (for a full description of these qualities see appendix 1: Glossary of Terms). The term “picture” has been used for the most part instead of the term “illustration” primarily because illustration has the connotation that it relies on written text