May Gibbs (1877-1969) - Australian Children's Book Writer and Illustrator

• Report rights infringement
• published: 17 Sep 2013
• views: 3696

May Gibbs was one of the few early illustrators and writers of children's books to use indigenous Australian bush images - both flora and fauna. The children's book 'Bib and Bub Their Adventures' resulted from the great success in the early 1920's of a weekly comic strip series of the same name that Gibbs produced for 'The Funnies' pages of 'The Sydney Morning Herald'. One of my fondest childhood memories was of my grandmother's reading 'Bib and Bub' aloud to me - usually in a soft scary gleeful voice for maximum fright!!! She loved the rollicking rhyming and accompanied the recital with sudden pointings at characters and actions in the book. She was best with the Big Bad Banksiamen, giving me my first genuine nightmares. These characters are seen menacing a cockatoo protectively enfolding two gum nut babies in the opening illustrating of the video. What is characteristic and newish about Gibbs' images is the use is a rough and rustic 'art nouveau' style, a style based on the forms of the natural world. It is less polished than the finish of the watercolour plates of her books. The characters are various. There are anthropomorhized bush creatures - clothed and upright-walking lizards, ducks, snakes, crickets and so on. And completely floral creatures, such as the Big Bad Banksiamen - the most scary in her work, being, in their obvious aboriginality, a form of subliminal racism! With the only completely human beings here, the infants - gumnut babies and wattle babies. Though these tiny people wear clothing made of materials from the natural world - gumnut hats and wattle flower dresses. And are therefore the reverse of the bush creatures in their cloth bonnets, lace-up boots and so on. The text accompanying many of the story frames is in rhyming couplets. In the same rustic style as the images. Rather than in the usual industrial print. The content or themes of the Bib and Bub story strips are somewhat different to her books. There is shade as well as light. The evils and dangers in life are also present, but are not necessarily eradicated in the approved manner of children's stories. They remain, to be wary of and work around, like the dangers of the real world. I think this choice of subject matter is something to do with the publishing context and, subsequently, the audience. 'The Funnies' appeared in a daily newspaper and so the readers would be, in part, adult. The sometimes darker content seems to reflect this broader readership. I hope you can enjoy these stories here even in some small way as much as I did as a kid ... and still do as an adult. Enjoy!

May Gibbs (1877-1969) - Australian Children's Book Writer and Illustrator

• Report rights infringement
• published: 17 Sep 2013
• views: 3696

May Gibbs was one of the few early illustrators and writers of children's books to use indigenous Australian bush images - both flora and fauna. The children's book 'Bib and Bub Their Adventures' resulted from the great success in the early 1920's of a weekly comic strip series of the same name that Gibbs produced for 'The Funnies' pages of 'The Sydney Morning Herald'. One of my fondest childhood memories was of my grandmother's reading 'Bib and Bub' aloud to me - usually in a soft scary gleeful voice for maximum fright!!! She loved the rollicking rhyming and accompanied the recital with sudden pointings at characters and actions in the book. She was best with the Big Bad Banksiamen, giving me my first genuine nightmares. These characters are seen menacing a cockatoo protectively enfolding two gum nut babies in the opening illustrating of the video. What is characteristic and newish about Gibbs' images is the use is a rough and rustic 'art nouveau' style, a style based on the forms of the natural world. It is less polished than the finish of the watercolour plates of her books. The characters are various. There are anthropomorhized bush creatures - clothed and upright-walking lizards, ducks, snakes, crickets and so on. And completely floral creatures, such as the Big Bad Banksiamen - the most scary in her work, being, in their obvious aboriginality, a form of subliminal racism! With the only completely human beings here, the infants - gumnut babies and wattle babies. Though these tiny people wear clothing made of materials from the natural world - gumnut hats and wattle flower dresses. And are therefore the reverse of the bush creatures in their cloth bonnets, lace-up boots and so on. The text accompanying many of the story frames is in rhyming couplets. In the same rustic style as the images. Rather than in the usual industrial print. The content or themes of the Bib and Bub story strips are somewhat different to her books. There is shade as well as light. The evils and dangers in life are also present, but are not necessarily eradicated in the approved manner of children's stories. They remain, to be wary of and work around, like the dangers of the real world. I think this choice of subject matter is something to do with the publishing context and, subsequently, the audience. 'The Funnies' appeared in a daily newspaper and so the readers would be, in part, adult. The sometimes darker content seems to reflect this broader readership. I hope you can enjoy these stories here even in some small way as much as I did as a kid ... and still do as an adult. Enjoy!

May Gibbs (1877-1969) - Australian Children's Book Writer and Illustrator

• Report rights infringement
• published: 17 Sep 2013
• views: 3696

May Gibbs was one of the few early illustrators and writers of children's books to use indigenous Australian bush images - both flora and fauna. The children's book 'Bib and Bub Their Adventures' resulted from the great success in the early 1920's of a weekly comic strip series of the same name that Gibbs produced for 'The Funnies' pages of 'The Sydney Morning Herald'. One of my fondest childhood memories was of my grandmother's reading 'Bib and Bub' aloud to me - usually in a soft scary gleeful voice for maximum fright!!! She loved the rollicking rhyming and accompanied the recital with sudden pointings at characters and actions in the book. She was best with the Big Bad Banksiamen, giving me my first genuine nightmares. These characters are seen menacing a cockatoo protectively enfolding two gum nut babies in the opening illustrating of the video. What is characteristic and newish about Gibbs' images is the use is a rough and rustic 'art nouveau' style, a style based on the forms of the natural world. It is less polished than the finish of the watercolour plates of her books. The characters are various. There are anthropomorhized bush creatures - clothed and upright-walking lizards, ducks, snakes, crickets and so on. And completely floral creatures, such as the Big Bad Banksiamen - the most scary in her work, being, in their obvious aboriginality, a form of subliminal racism! With the only completely human beings here, the infants - gumnut babies and wattle babies. Though these tiny people wear clothing made of materials from the natural world - gumnut hats and wattle flower dresses. And are therefore the reverse of the bush creatures in their cloth bonnets, lace-up boots and so on. The text accompanying many of the story frames is in rhyming couplets. In the same rustic style as the images. Rather than in the usual industrial print. The content or themes of the Bib and Bub story strips are somewhat different to her books. There is shade as well as light. The evils and dangers in life are also present, but are not necessarily eradicated in the approved manner of children's stories. They remain, to be wary of and work around, like the dangers of the real world. I think this choice of subject matter is something to do with the publishing context and, subsequently, the audience. 'The Funnies' appeared in a daily newspaper and so the readers would be, in part, adult. The sometimes darker content seems to reflect this broader readership. I hope you can enjoy these stories here even in some small way as much as I did as a kid ... and still do as an adult. Enjoy!