Visual Element in Children’s Literature

Abstract

One of the simplicity principle in children’s literature is visuality. Visuality, means primarily, enrichment of the text by a different branch of art (painting art), to concretize it, and make it appropriate for the level of the perception of the child in pedagogical sense. At the same time it is not only painting, caricature or photograph to be used; space, human and event portrayals are also included in visual element. Book cover and interior book design, typesetting and print quality should be integrated into simplicity principle as a compound of art, craft and technic. In this article, visual element will be approached by its first meaning, as a painting art, and evaluated in this context.

Especially since the year 1800, apprehension of “child”, “childhood”, “children’s book”, “literature for children” started to develop; besides that a painting application based on aesthetic and pedagogical principles was practised; to simplify, concretize, make the work nice and attractive; soon after old masters were emerged in this subject.

This style composed of literature and painting art compounds that has reached up today, and it still continues. From now on painting is not only a transitory part of the text, it is complementary, constitutive, it can become increasingly an independent work and value of the text. This “pictorial literature” is composed of the compounds of painting and literature and creates a different style and aesthetic structure. It’s worth noting here, in this state it is not an area that is just needed by children but also by adults.

In this article, visual element in children’s literature, will be approached in the frame of “simplicity principle”; drawing, figure and painting art, will also be seen as elements ensures simplicity, answer to certain questions will be searched: (1) What is the visual element in children’s literature, what does it mean? (2) What is the place of the visual element in the world of the child; what is the contribution it would make to child’s comprehension and level of perception? (3) What is the structure of the existence of the visual element in the work?