Pictures in books have a problem. Our education system is currently designed to favour words over pictures. Babies begin with pictures because pictures are ‘easy’. They are intuitive and images are the primary way we experience the world before we are taught the symbols and marks that constitute the written word.
By the time a child is a toddler, pictures in books are paired with words, about 50/50. Soon after that, children begin reading books that have more words than pictures until, having fully grasped the written language, they begin to read stories without pictures–100% words. Having been educated in this way, a person can’t be blamed for assuming ‘pictures are for kids.’
I recently had an interaction with a grandfather in a bookstore who was looking for a book for their ‘very smart 7-year old grandchild.’ I suggested a story primarily driven by pictures but with big themes. He leafed through the book and said, ‘my granddaughter is too smart for this, it doesn’t have enough words.’ Which, of course, begs the question – how many words makes a smart book?
And yet, this same person would likely take their very smart 7-year old grandchild to an art gallery. They would likely gaze upon the works of Van Gogh, Cezanne, or Matisse. They would likely think this experience was important, intelligent and an objective good for their grandchild.
But, paintings are pictures without words. Why stand in front of a piece of canvas from hundreds of years ago, dabbed with colour? Shouldn’t that same child who was too-smart for a picture-driven story in a book also be too smart for a Van Gogh?
Paint on a canvas, like pictures in a book, provoke feeling and tell a story; they stimulate an emotional intelligence and also an intellectual one. But, like with most technology, the Overton Window of the medium will always change. The important thing is that we generate enough diversity across the arts to help people find their way to growing both of those parts of themselves as only the best art can do.