Artist Research: Judith Kerr

  Judith Kerr is another recently passed (2019) who worked as children’s book illustrator for 50 years. I first came to learn about her in an advertisement near the college regarding an exhibition about her book ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ in the Leicester Museums, which is an event I had missed unfortunately. Some of her works have been reworked by other artists due to age and due to change in medium or media, however the change is quite notable when comparing the works.

Illustrations from Judith Kerr’s ‘The Tiger That Came to Tea’, 

Original (Top) and Reworked (Bottom)

 I have chosen the images above for comparison as not only does it show the changes in art style but also have a great difference between the action of the characters. The tiger in the reworked illustration has more exaggerated expression while the little girl has her back towards the audience unlike the original, bringing more focus to the tiger instead of the whole scene. As the contrast in motion, and additionally the more vibrant colour of the tiger, is more notable it makes the scene much simpler and easier to understand for children (simpler process; original shows to motions at work while the new one is one exaggeration action). It is also notable that the reworked illustration is more spacious (horizontally), having more negative space and room for scan over.

 She was quite lucky in her childhood; her father Alfred Kerr, a renowned theatre critic and author, was a critic of Hitler before he had gained full power and their possessions all taken, but they had escaped alive (Bletchly, 2019). Bletchly (2019) recount Kerr’s tale, of how she lost her toy bunny during the escape and how her husband has motivated her to turn this story into a book, serving as the beginning of her career. This, perhaps, was the reason why animal characters are often the protagonists in her stories. Her stories are her childhood covered in a thin disguise, as animal characters, expressing her ups and downs as a life of a family of poor refugee but in a more positive light (Byrne, 2019).

 Despite the differences in style, there are significant similarities to Kerr’s works to Carle’s (barring the very obvious ones such as both utilising animal-based characters and the difference between more abstract work to a direct one). Both authors have child-like wonders and motifs in their stories, making their works generally positive and dream-like. They have both suffered through hardships, especially war though in varying degrees (as a soldier and as a refugee), and these experiences seem to highlight their positivity in their works. Additionally, despite both authors working with a 2D environment, Carle emphasises on completely flattening the illustration with little to no perspective while Kerr has some perspective with minimal shading. 

 I believe that this point is my focus in Kerr’s work; while Carle’s work is impactful through patterns, Kerr makes a simplistic and realistic yet visually filling illustration. It is more direct as a result, especially with the white negative space going around the scene shown. This straightforward but realistic composition feels more effective when comparing to Carle’s composition, although his abstract patterns do seem attractive as well in arrangement, and I have considered that Carle’s style of patterning may be used in place of the negative space in Kerr’s style for me to draw on a colourful work.

References:

Bletchly, R. (2019) Judith Kerr on why she wanted to write another book before her death at 95. Available at: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/legendary-childrens-author-judith-kerr-7718674. (Accessed: 28 May 2023).

Byrne, E. (2019)  Judith Kerr: read her autobiographies to understand The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Available at: https://theconversation.com/judith-kerr-read-her-autobiographies-to-understand-the-tiger-who-came-to-tea-117767. (Accessed: 29 May 2023).

Eccleshare, J. (2019) Judith Kerr obituary. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/23/judith-kerr-obituary. (Accessed: 26 May 2023).

Harper Collins Publisher (n.d.) Judith Kerr. Available at: https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/judith-kerr. (Accessed: 25 May 2023).

Image References:

Kerr, J. (1968) Illustration from The Tiger That Came to Tea. Available at: https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-news/visit-kitchen-inspired-tiger-who-came-tea. (Accessed: 25 May 2023).

Lupus Films (2019) The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Available at: https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/the-tiger-who-came-to-tea-channel-4-film-judith-kerr-christmas-eve-tv-378374. (Accessed: 25 May 2023).