Fairy tales brought to life in paintings

By Victoria Gail-White
Special to The Advertiser

•	'Wisdom and Wonder: Children's Book Illustrations by Paul O. Zelinsky' Through July 31 Education Gallery 2 Honolulu Academy of Arts

Zelinsky uses watercolor, acrylic and oil paints on paper in a style reminiscent of Jan van Eyck and Leonardo da Vinci.

"I choose to make the settings about as real as possible," he writes in his artist's statement. "Though not in the reality of today; rather, in Italy, in 1500, when people's clothes looked so wonderful, and there really were princes."

Rich folds of fabric and braiding, luminous skin tones, furniture, architecture, jewels and imaginary characters become seductively alive in these illustrations from "Rapunzel," "Rumplestiltskin" and "Hansel and Gretel." The expressions on the faces of the elaborately costumed characters give a dramatic contemporary flair to these classic timeless tales. The specific details of the images, even without the text, wield a power of their own, enchanting the viewer.

Zelinsky has illustrated 26 books since 1978. In 1998, he won the Caldecott Medal (an award given to the best children's book illustrator in America every year) for "Rapunzel." He is the illustrator of three Caldecott Honor books: "Hansel and Gretel," "Rumplestiltskin" and "Swamp Angel."

He does not believe that fairy tales should be illustrated with pure flights of imagination. "Pure imagination, if it existed, would never fly," he writes. "I'll take the most absurd and impossible things, when I illustrate them, with all the seriousness I would give a work of real history. That's what I hope will make it fly. There is no 'authentic' version of a fairy tale like Rapunzel, but a good version should make you feel that its authenticity is absolute."

This exhibition is in collaboration with the Biennial Conferences on Literature and Hawai'i's Children. This year's conference, which is open to the public, will be held June 10-12. Information: CLH@hawaii.edu, or phone 956-7559.