Vol. 12 No. 1 (2025): Literature, visual culture and childhood: historical itineraries and hermeneutic perspectives
Articles

The Role of French Publications in the Evolution of Modern Picturebooks: Illustrators and Serial Characters

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  • Luca Ganzerla
Luca Ganzerla
Università degli Studi di Verona, Italia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/rse-16864

Published 2025-06-05

Keywords

  • album pour la jeunesse,
  • Francia,
  • illustration,
  • children’s publishing,
  • seriality

How to Cite

Ganzerla, L. (2025). The Role of French Publications in the Evolution of Modern Picturebooks: Illustrators and Serial Characters. Rivista Di Storia dell’Educazione, 12(1), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.36253/rse-16864

Copyright (c) 2025 Luca Ganzerla

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Picturebooks (albums pour la jeunesse) first achieve an identity as media in their own right in the 19th century. Thanks to authors from different European countries and from the United States, the early 20th century brings about a transition from “modern” to “contemporary” picturebooks. This paper investigates the role of France both in fostering a change in the function of illustrations in children’s books and in the creation of a “grammar of the picturebook”. The analysis includes the contribution of some publishers (Hetzel, Hachette, Faucher) and artists (Grandville, Frølich, Job, Boutet de Monvel, Hellé, Rabier, de Brunhoff) in the evolution of picturebooks in terms of form and content. It then considers the following aspects: to what extent it is possible to consider France as a pioneering nation in picturebook series? How did the contamination with other media influence the evolution of picturebooks? What kind of influence did French publishers and illustrators have on children’s literature? This paper concentrates on the time span between 1800 and 1945. It identifies four main phases, and discusses the contribution of publishers, picturebook makers, fundamental works and serial characters in outlining the foundations of modern picturebooks.

PDF (italian)

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