Chapter 10. Just what is it that makes Pop Art picturebooks so different, so appealing?
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Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer
Abstract
In the 1960s and 1970s the Pop Art movement exerted a great influence on picturebook artists in different European countries (Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) and the USA. By referring to various avant-garde movements, such as Dadaism, Expressionism, and Surrealism, and by combining materials chosen from different media (advertisements, comics, film, newspapers, photography, and poster art), the author-illustrators introduced new ideas and concepts into picturebook art, thus crossing the boundaries between popular culture, children’s literature, and modern art. Moreover, Pop Art picturebooks are characterized by an anti-pedagogical approach that encourages the child reader to critically reflect upon moral, political, and pedagogical issues and to revolt against authorities. Extended paratexts explain the artists’ intentions and emphasize the presumption that children usually have more openness to new experiences than adults.
Abstract
In the 1960s and 1970s the Pop Art movement exerted a great influence on picturebook artists in different European countries (Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) and the USA. By referring to various avant-garde movements, such as Dadaism, Expressionism, and Surrealism, and by combining materials chosen from different media (advertisements, comics, film, newspapers, photography, and poster art), the author-illustrators introduced new ideas and concepts into picturebook art, thus crossing the boundaries between popular culture, children’s literature, and modern art. Moreover, Pop Art picturebooks are characterized by an anti-pedagogical approach that encourages the child reader to critically reflect upon moral, political, and pedagogical issues and to revolt against authorities. Extended paratexts explain the artists’ intentions and emphasize the presumption that children usually have more openness to new experiences than adults.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Table of figures vii
- Introduction 1
-
Vanguard tendencies since the beginning of the twentieth century
- Chapter 1. John Ruskin and the mutual influences of children’s literature and the avant-garde 19
- Chapter 2. Einar Nerman – From the picturebook page to the avant-garde stage 45
- Chapter 3. Sándor Bortnyik and an interwar Hungarian children’s book 65
- Chapter 4. The forgotten history of avant-garde publishing for children in early twentieth-century Britain 89
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The Impact of the Russian avant-garde
- Chapter 5. The square as regal infant 113
- Chapter 6. The 1929 Amsterdam exhibition of early Soviet children’s picturebooks 137
- Chapter 7. Rupture. Ideological, aesthetic, and educational transformations in Danish picturebooks around 1933 171
- Chapter 8. Mirror images 189
-
Postbellum avant-garde children’s books
- Chapter 9. Manifestations of the avant-garde and its legacy in French children’s literature 217
- Chapter 10. Just what is it that makes Pop Art picturebooks so different, so appealing? 241
- Chapter 11. Surrealism for children 267
- About the editors and contributors 285
- Subject Index 289
- Name Index 293
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Table of figures vii
- Introduction 1
-
Vanguard tendencies since the beginning of the twentieth century
- Chapter 1. John Ruskin and the mutual influences of children’s literature and the avant-garde 19
- Chapter 2. Einar Nerman – From the picturebook page to the avant-garde stage 45
- Chapter 3. Sándor Bortnyik and an interwar Hungarian children’s book 65
- Chapter 4. The forgotten history of avant-garde publishing for children in early twentieth-century Britain 89
-
The Impact of the Russian avant-garde
- Chapter 5. The square as regal infant 113
- Chapter 6. The 1929 Amsterdam exhibition of early Soviet children’s picturebooks 137
- Chapter 7. Rupture. Ideological, aesthetic, and educational transformations in Danish picturebooks around 1933 171
- Chapter 8. Mirror images 189
-
Postbellum avant-garde children’s books
- Chapter 9. Manifestations of the avant-garde and its legacy in French children’s literature 217
- Chapter 10. Just what is it that makes Pop Art picturebooks so different, so appealing? 241
- Chapter 11. Surrealism for children 267
- About the editors and contributors 285
- Subject Index 289
- Name Index 293
