Eye Magazine

In 1984 Anno was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal – the highest international recognition given to an author and illustrator of children’s books – yet despite this accolade, he is not well known in the UK. This online exhibition could help to rectify that, as it is the perfect introduction to his work.

The actual exhibition was held in a large room in Japan House, with the artworks displayed on the walls and separate panels and a central cosy area where you could sit and browse a selection of the artist’s books. The virtual exhibition gives a clear impression of this space and it is easy to swivel the screen for different views, pinching out or in to expand and contract the image.

On the ‘floor’ there are buttons to press to alter your position, and above each artwork there are more buttons to zoom in on a piece and read the accompanying text. In all there are eight separate areas to experience, including an ‘In Depth’ section in the centre to learn more about Anno himself. The tour has an audio accompaniment, but you can mute this if you prefer.

Anno trained as a primary school teacher, and from the 1960s onwards, he began to illustrate children’s books. Many of his titles are wordless and most incorporate some sort of visual puzzle or mystery, such as an unusual perspective, a trompe l’oeil illusion or a few unexpected playful jokes. Gentle humour and careful observation are key characteristics of his work.

I first discovered the wordless picturebook Anno’s Journey (1977) in 2011 when I was researching my MA dissertation, and I fell in love with it instantly. It shows a tiny man arriving by boat on an empty shore, acquiring a horse and riding through both rural countryside and busy townscapes, observing all he sees, then finally leaving again. For inspiration, Anno drew on his journeys across Europe in the 1960s and 70s, and hidden within his highly detailed illustrations are numerous references to European culture, from art and music to folktales and pastimes. You can see original separations from Anno’s Journey in the exhibition.

Other ‘Journey’ books, specific to individual countries, followed and in the tour you can see the complete set of pen-and-ink watercolours from Anno’s Britain (1981). Other interesting exhibits include pictures from The Tale of the Heike Picture Book, a series of 79 paintings of a Japanese literary classic made using the traditional technique of ink-and-powder pigments on silk and published one-by-one in the monthly magazine Hon (Books in English); and a fabulous series of mainly black-and-white papercuts produced in the 1970s to illustrate well known Japanese folk tales; paintings and sculptures of Japanese letters.

More recently, Anno has painted watercolours of Tsuwano as remembered from his youth in the 1920s and 30s. The soundtrack of the virtual tour features a familiar sound from his childhood, the steam train (above, left) that wound its way through his home town.

Of course a virtual experience can never be quite as good as the real thing, but there are some surprising advantages, such as being able to expand a picture to look closely at the detail. Also, it is a great resource for anyone studying Anno, Japan, illustration, or children’s literature. This is an online treat almost anyone interested in visual culture will enoy.

Clare Walters, author of children’s picturebooks and journalist, London

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