Baynes creates the impression of an illuminated manuscript in The Song of the Three Holy Children (1986), a hymn of praise from the Book of Daniel. For Godden’s The Dragon of Og (1981), set in the time of dragons, the drawings are simpler and the use of borders in the color illustrations gives them a medieval feel. In contrast, Baynes uses shading and detail in her illustrations for Four Dolls (1983) by Rumer Goddbn, their realism reflecting the contemporary setting. For instance, the title decorations for each story in A Gift from the Heart (1966), a collection of tales from Bulgaria by Radost Pridham, are intricate silhouettes reminiscent of Eastern European cut-paper folk art. Her illustrations for collections of folktales capture the national flavor of the stories. Although her Style is recognizable from book to book, it does vary somewhat to reflect the subject matter. More often she- emphasizes the internal patterns within flat shapes. Pauline Baynes’s people and animals are rarely totally realistic, three-dimensional beings. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. For example, in Let There Be Light (1991), the Biblical story of creation, she uses swirling patterns to represent the creation process: small vague swirls in the beginning that become more distinct and expansive as God creates more and more until finally plants, fish, birds, and animals representing the infinite variety of life sweep across whole pages. Still resenting discipline, she found courses in perspective and life drawing very difficult and turned instead to design.Ī strong sense of design is apparent in her books. At fifteen she left school and entered Farnham School of Art. Having been pampered in India, Baynes had a difficult time adjusting to the impersonal discipline of the English school.

Baynes and her older sister were placed in a convent school while her mother recuperated. Her mother became ill when she was five, and the family returned to England while her father stayed in India. Her illustrations have received numerous awards, including the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1968 for A Dictionary of Chivalry by Grant Uden.īorn in England, Pauline Baynes went to India with her family when she was a few months old.

She went on to illustrate the other six books in the “Chronicles of Narnia” series and Tolkien’s Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962). He particularly liked her dragon and decided that she would be perfect to render the variety of creatures in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950). Her drawings for her first book, Tolkien’s Parmer Giles of Ham (1949) caught C.S. Using simple yet expressive line drawings, Pauline Baynes began her career illustrating works by two great fantasy writers: J. British illustrator and author, 1922-2008.

Borrobil by William Croft Dickinson