Illustration Wednesday: Chris Van Allsburg

The first time I ever came across anything Chris Van Allsburg, I won't tell you how old I was, but it did involve the movie Jumanji. And I'm embarrassed typing that at the time I had no clue it was based off of his picture book. Unfortunately, when Zathura came out, I did, but watched it for Kristen Stewart. I know, I know... He is so much more magnificent than what those movies represent of his books. 

Illustration from "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick"

My favorite illustrations of his are in The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Recently this picture book has inspired a book of writing called The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales. I haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet, but it's going on a wishlist. The mystery & magic, imagination, and inspiration that his illustrations entice are what draws me to them.

ShelfAwareness featured an interview with him on September 28, and an answer of his, when asked how the idea for the original The Mysteries of Harris Burdick evolved, made me take note:

"One of the inspirations grew out of experiences I had at flea markets with dealers of ephemera--posters, postcards, small matted images that have come out of books. If they take out the 20 illustrations and matte each one separately and sell them for $10, they'll make more, so they cannibalize the book. One of these dealers had some Gustave Doré sort of works, and he'd matted them in a way that retained the caption. The addition of a few words to this image was like putting a match to the thing--not to destroy it, but to create some heat.

It's amazing that an image that could be perhaps banal and a caption that's perhaps banal as well can interact in a way that triggers the imagination to make sense of the two things together. It's a kind of alchemy; they catalyze each other. That's the best thing about picture books—the way the words and images heighten each other."