Considering fine art and picture books

There has been a close association between picturebook illustrations and works of fine art since the picturebook was first conceived, and many ways these associations among works of fine art and picturebook illustrations and design play out. To make sense of all the various ways picturebook illustrations are associated with works of fine art, three categories of appropriation have been constructed that may help teachers organize and discuss the connections among fine art and picturebook illustrations. The three categories are: 1) Reproduction, 2) Transfiguration, and 3) Stylization. Helping students interpret works of fine art leads to deeper understandings of the picturebooks they experience and carries over into other areas of the language arts curriculum.