The adult illustrated album

The books discussed in the previous post have educational objectives and require mediation between adults and children, giving the adult the role of mediator and making the child the target spectator. However in more recent decades, wordless books are not only linked to the purpose of educating and in many cases more “sophisticated” books have been developed that are aimed not only at children, but also at adults.

In recent years, the album or picture book has gained increasing importance and despite being aimed at younger people, there is an increase in interest among readers of different age groups due to the books of artists like Bruno Munari, Iela Mari and Warja Lavater, who in 60's turn the illustrated book without words into a favorite medium for graphic and artistic experiments.

The transition from “pedagogical material to graphic narrative” took place in France around the 70s, with the appearance of illustrated albums with narrative and without words. (BECKETT, 2012: 82)

Some of these books can be understood as children's books, however, the participation of artists in designing the images for the book with more unconventional and plastic images, transforms these into aesthetic products in order to encourage older authors to read.

References

Beckett, S. L. (2012). Crossover picturebooks: A genre for all ages. Londres Routledge.