Earlier this month we were delighted to receive into the Seven Stories Collection a fine set of signed Charles Keeping prints. These prints reproduce a selection of wonderfully dark illustrations made by Keeping for Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen's books, The God Beneath the Sea and The Golden Shadow. The prints were donated to Seven Stories by former school teacher and long-time supporter of Seven Stories, Nick Brown. Here Nick talks about how he came across the prints and the impact the work of Charles Keeping has had on him:
When I was training as a teacher in the early 70s, I came
across The God Beneath the Sea by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen. This
retelling of some of the Greek myths was radically different from the ones we
usually used on teaching practice by authors such as Roger Lancelyn Green,
Barbara Leone Picard or even Andre Lang. I found the stories compelling and
used some of them in my teaching.
Detail of Hades Chariot from The God Beneath the Sea. Image © Charles Keeping estate |
Copies of the books |
But it isn't the
stories that have stayed with me, it's Charles Keeping's amazing illustrations
that have resonated over the years. I was stunned by Keeping's illustrations so much so that when a portfolio of his illustrations
for both The God Beneath the Sea and The
Golden Shadow became available, I snapped it up. And they have remained with me
ever since. I would take them out every so often and admire their power and
violent beauty. I've enjoyed these prints for so many years that it seemed
fitting to donate them to Seven Stories to add to their archive, where they could be viewed alongside the original Leon Garfield manuscripts.
Pages from Leon Garfield's notebooks for The Golden Shadow here at Seven Stories |
On my visit to the Seven Stories Collection I was able to look
through Leon Garfield's notebook that contain partial drafts of both novels. At
this stage of writing, not surprisingly, there is no indication about
illustrating them. It would be really interesting to find out when/how Keeping
became a part of the process and how much freedom he had in deciding what to
illustrate. But that is for another time.
It has to be remembered that whilst both books were promoted as suitable for older children, one wonders if the illustrations are! Today, we see resonances of Keeping's work in that of Dave McKean (Coraline), Chris Riddell (The Graveyard Book) and Jim Kay (A Monster Calls). Keeping is crucial to our understanding of the development of post war children's book illustration and the illustrations for God Beneath the Sea and The Golden Shadow are an important part of this process.
Leon Garfield's notebooks for The Golden Shadow here at Seven Stories |
Dead Nemean lion from The Golden Shadow. Image © Charles Keeping estate |
By Nick Brown
The Charles Keeping prints and the Leon Garfield collection are available to view by appointment at the Seven Stories Collections Department. To find out more about the Seven Stories Collection click here. To make an appointment to visit the Collection or to find out more about the collections featured in this post or other collections that we hold then click here to contact us.
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