The woman who drew Narnia

[shewhomust]

I was very sorry to hear, via calimac, and pnh at Tor.com, of the recent death of Pauline Baynes.

She was the first illustrator whose work (specifically, her drawings of Narnia) I really noticed, and I return to her whenever I want to explain what appeals to me in illustration: the precision of her depictions, the vividness of what are, after all, black and white drawings. When I described my first visit to Seven Stories, I picked out as one of the highlights a set of her paintings of mythical beasts: "Shelob, a dragon, Jabberwocky, in the jewel-bright colours and delicate lines of a Mughal miniature." I would love to see more of her original work.

In that earlier post I also linked to Charlotte Cory's account of her interview with Pauline Baynes, from which I have appropriated the title of this post. It's worth reading (or re-reading).

ETA: Also, via mevennen, Brian Sibley's blog post.

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That's very sad news.

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

How sad. She was such an important part of my childhood. I still regard her illustrations as the ones that showed what I saw in my mind better than anyone else.

[sovay]

Like Christopher Fry: I hadn't known she was still alive. Thank you for letting me know.