Pauline Baynes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pauline Baynes
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Portrait, c. 1974
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| Born |
Pauline Diana Baynes
9 September 1922 |
| Died | 1 August 2008 (aged 85) Dockenfield, Surrey, England
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| Education | Slade School of Fine Art |
| Known for | Illustration, mainly children's books |
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Notable work
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The Chronicles of Narnia A Map of Middle-earth |
| Spouse(s) |
Fritz Gasch
(m. 1961; died 1988) |
| Awards | Kate Greenaway Medal 1968 |
Pauline Diana Baynes (9 September 1922 – 1 August 2008) was an English illustrator and author. She contributed drawings and paintings to more than 200 books, mostly in the children's genre. She was the first illustrator of some of J. R. R. Tolkien's minor works, including Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. She became well-known for her cover illustrations for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and for her poster map with inset illustrations, A Map of Middle-earth.
She illustrated all seven volumes of C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. Late in her life she began to write and illustrate her own books, with animal or Biblical themes.
Contents
Early life
Baynes was born on 9 September 1922 at 67 Brunswick Place, Hove, East Sussex, England. Her father was Frederick William Wilberforce Baynes (1887–1967) and her mother was Jessie Harriet Maude Baynes, née Cunningham (c. 1888–1958). Her only sibling was her elder sister, Angela Mary Baynes. While she was still a baby, her family emigrated to India, where her father had been appointed a Commissioner (district official) in the British imperial Indian Civil Service, serving as a senior magistrate. The Bayneses divided their time between the city of Agra and a refuge from the midsummer heat in the hill town of Mussoorie; Baynes was happy in her expatriate infancy.
When she was five, her mother, who was in poor health, took both her daughters back to England. Baynes recalled crying herself to sleep on her journey home. The three returnees lived a nomadic life in Surrey, lodging with various friends and renting a series of rooms in boarding houses. Baynes's father stayed behind in India, licensed by his wife to feel "free to do as he pleased", but regularly rejoined his family for holidays in Switzerland.
Education
Baynes began her education at a convent school, where the nuns who taught her mocked her fantastical imagination, her homemade clothes and her ability to speak Hindi. When she was nine, she was sent to Beaufort School in Camberley. Her favourite subject there was art, "because it was easy". By the time that she left, she had formed the ambition of becoming an illustrator. She liked Beaufort well enough to go back to it as a teacher for two years in her mid-twenties. At fifteen, she followed her sister to the Farnham School of Art (now subsumed into the University for the Creative Arts). She spent two terms studying design, which was to become the foundation of her mature technique.
At nineteen, again like her sister, she won a place at the Slade School of Fine Art.
World War II and mapmaking
During World War II, Pauline Baynes didn't fight on the battlefield, but she used her artistic skills to help the war effort. She worked for the British War Office, where she made maps and marine charts for the Royal Navy. This experience taught her a lot about detail and accuracy, which would later be very useful in her book illustrations.
The Chronicles of Narnia
After the war, Pauline Baynes began her career as a book illustrator. One of her most famous and important jobs was illustrating The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. These books tell the story of a magical land called Narnia, filled with talking animals, mythical creatures, and epic battles between good and evil.
C.S. Lewis chose Pauline Baynes to illustrate his books because he loved her style and her ability to capture the spirit of his stories. He knew she could bring Narnia to life in a way that would enchant readers of all ages.
Pauline Baynes illustrated all seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia series:
1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950)
2. Prince Caspian (1951)
3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
4. The Silver Chair (1953)
5. The Horse and His Boy (1954)
6. The Magician's Nephew (1955)
7. The Last Battle (1956)
Her illustrations became iconic and are still loved by readers today. When you think of Aslan the lion, the White Witch, or the Pevensie children, you might be picturing them the way Pauline Baynes drew them!
Bringing Narnia to life
Pauline Baynes' illustrations for The Chronicles of Narnia are full of detail, imagination, and charm. She carefully studied the text of the books and worked closely with C.S. Lewis to make sure her illustrations matched his vision.
She used a variety of techniques, including pen and ink, watercolor, and colored pencils, to create her illustrations. Her drawings are full of life and movement, and they perfectly capture the magical atmosphere of Narnia.
Imagine drawing a picture of a talking beaver, a majestic lion, or a fearsome witch! Pauline Baynes had the amazing ability to make these fantastical characters seem real and believable.
Other famous works
Besides The Chronicles of Narnia, Pauline Baynes illustrated many other famous children's books, including:
- Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien (1949)
- Smith of Wootton Major by J.R.R. Tolkien (1967)
- A Dictionary of Chivalry by Grant Uden (1968)
- How Dog Began by Arthur Hughes (1965)
She also illustrated numerous fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and picture books. Her illustrations have been enjoyed by generations of children and have helped to spark their imaginations.
Working with Tolkien
Pauline Baynes also had the opportunity to work with another famous author, J.R.R. Tolkien, the creator of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. She illustrated his book Farmer Giles of Ham, a humorous tale about a farmer who accidentally becomes a hero.
Tolkien was very pleased with Pauline Baynes' illustrations, and he praised her ability to capture the spirit of his story.
Unique style
Pauline Baynes had a very distinctive style that made her illustrations instantly recognizable. Her drawings were full of detail, but they also had a sense of whimsy and charm. She often used bright colors and intricate patterns to create her illustrations.
Her characters were always expressive and full of personality. You could tell what they were thinking and feeling just by looking at their faces.
Awards and Recognition
Pauline Baynes' work has been recognized with numerous awards and honors. She won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1968 for her illustrations in A Dictionary of Chivalry. This is one of the most prestigious awards in children's literature.
Her illustrations have also been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. She is considered one of the most important and influential children's book illustrators of the 20th century.
As author
In Baynes's later years commissions could be hard to come by - there were days when fan mail and a rejection letter would arrive in the same post. Baynes used her fallow periods to put together some books of her own. Several came from her delight in animals – The Elephant's Ball (based on a nineteenth-century narrative poem), How Dog Began (a Kiplingesque fable dedicated to eleven of her own pets) and Questionable Creatures. But most of Baynes's books were the fruit of her abiding interest in religion. Good King Wenceslas celebrated the famous Christmas carol; The Song of the Three Holy Children illustrated an apocryphal passage from the Book of Daniel; Noah and the Ark and In the Beginning were drawn from the Book of Genesis; Thanks Be to God was an international anthology of prayers; How excellent is thy name! illustrated Psalm 8; and I Believe illustrated the Nicene Creed.
Personal life
In 1961, Baynes met Friedrich Otto Gasch, usually known as Fritz. Born on 21 September 1919 in Auerswalde, Saxony, Germany, Gasch had served in Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps during the Second World War, had been taken prisoner and had then been sent via the United States to an English PoW camp. Once the war had ended he had decided to adopt England as his home. A whirlwind courtship culminated in Baynes's and Gasch's marrying on 18 March 1961. The Gasches lived in Rock Barn Cottage, Heath Hill, Dockenfield, in the North Downs. Their only child, a son, was stillborn. After retiring from work as a contract gardener, Gasch died on 28 October 1988 at the age of sixty-nine.
Death
Baynes died in Dockenfield on 1 August 2008, leaving behind unpublished illustrations for The Quran, Aesop's Fables and Sibley's Osric the Extraordinary Owl: this last was printed thirteen years later.
Impact
Pauline Baynes' illustrations have had a lasting impact on children's literature. Her work has inspired countless artists and writers, and her illustrations continue to be loved by readers of all ages.
She showed us how important pictures are in telling a story. Her art helped make the worlds of Narnia and other books even more magical and memorable.
Interesting facts about Pauline Baynes
- At the Slade School of Fine Art, Baynes was not a diligent student, spending time on "coffee and parties".
- Baynes told Tolkien that her favourite among The Adventures of Tom Bombadil's poems was The Hoard; only much later did she learn that her illustration for that particular poem had disappointed him – she had drawn a dragon facing away from the mouth of its cave and a knight without either a shield or a helmet, which he had thought looked implausible.
- Lewis chose Baynes to illustrate his tale after enjoying her artwork for Farmer Giles of Ham, encouraged also by a bookshop assistant.
- Stationery companies commissioned Baynes to design Christmas cards – some of which are still reproduced decades after she painted them – and Huntley and Palmers employed her to advertise their biscuits.
See also
In Spanish: Pauline Baynes para niños
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